In a citizen suit alleging that a bulk oil storage terminal on New Haven Harbor had not been prepared for the impacts of severe weather and climate change in violation of federal environmental laws, the federal district court for the District of Connecticut granted in part and denied in part plaintiff Conservation Law Foundation’s (CLF’s) motion to compel Shell Oil Co. to comply with 39 discovery requests. The court found that CLF had “reasonably tailored” its requests for information about what the defendants do at their other facilities by limiting the number of facilities to 15 and by only asking about coastal facilities that store petroleum in bulk and that have certain risk profiles. The court also found that the defendants did not support “undue burden” and “lack-of-proportionality” objections. The court said it was “simply implausible” that the defendants could not identify its “coastal” facilities or its bulk petroleum storage facilities and that, even if their systems were deficient, the defendants could not rely on “obsolescence” as a basis for undue burden or lack of proportionality. The court also said that the defendants’ arguments regarding the burdens of collecting and producing responsive information did not account for CLF’s narrowing of its requests. In addition, the court concluded that pre-2017 documents would be relevant to at least some claims. The court found that a request for one category of the defendants’ climate change assessments was facially overbroad and unduly burdensome but that requests for design standards and adaptation plans applicable to the New Haven terminal were not.

Citizen suit alleging failures to prepare a bulk storage and fuel terminal in New Haven, Connecticut for the effects of climate change.

Conservation Law Foundation v. Shell Oil Co.

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In Suit About Climate Preparedness of New Haven Terminal, Connecticut Federal Court Said Shell Must Respond to Many of Plaintiff’s Narrowed Discovery Requests

Filed

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A company that is owned wholly or partially by the state, typically operating in key sectors.

Conditions that enhance the feasibility of adaptation options. Enabling conditions include finance, technological innovation, strengthening policy instruments, institutional capacity, multi-level governance and changes in human behaviour and lifestyles.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Actions to adapt and increase the resilience of rural and urban infrastructure and settlements to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector provides communication services, software development, and IT solutions.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

Geohazards are adverse geological phenomenon's that are capable of causing widespread damage or loss to property, life and the environment, such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions and tsunamis. Climate change can increase the frequency and severity of some geohazards, such as landslides, and soil erosion.

In Suit About Climate Preparedness of New Haven Terminal, Connecticut Federal Court Said Shell Must Respond to Many of Plaintiff’s Narrowed Discovery Requests

Risk

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance