On January 12, 2018, Shell Oil entities (Shell) moved to dismiss the citizen suit brought by Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) in the federal district court for the District of Rhode Island alleging that Shell violated the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) at a bulk storage and fuel terminal in Providence. CLF alleged in an amended complaint filed in October 2017 that Shell had not taken information about climate change risks into account in designing, constructing, and operating the terminal. CLF asserted that Shell’s disregard of the risks and continuing failure to protect the terminal from the risk made Shell liable for violations of the Clean Water Act and RCRA. In the motion to dismiss, Shell argued that CLF lacked standing because the alleged injuries were “highly speculative, remote, or hypothetical” and also flowed from severe precipitation and flooding events that were “wholly unrelated” to the defendants. Shell also asserted that the complaint’s adaptation claims were not ripe and that CLF failed to state a claim under either the Clean Water Act or RCRA because its “failure to adapt” allegations amounted to “conclusory legal statements.” Shell also said the court should defer to Rhode Island—which Shell said was “actively evaluating new measures for controlling the flow of stormwater discharges attributable to potential severe precipitation and flooding related to climate change”—and abstain from considering the Clean Water Act adaptation claims. Shell further asserted that the RCRA claim should be dismissed under the doctrine of primary jurisdiction because Rhode Island’s environmental agency was overseeing cleanup of the facility and was obligated by statute to take climate change impacts into account. In addition, Shell said the court did not have subject matter jurisdiction over the terminal’s former owner/operator.

Citizen suit alleging that Shell Oil violated the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act by failing to prepare a bulk storage and fuel terminal in Providence, Rhode Island, for climate change impacts.

Conservation Law Foundation, Inc. v. Shell Oil Products US

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Shell Asked Rhode Island Federal Court to Dismiss Citizen Suit Asserting That Failure to Prepare Terminal for Climate Change Violated Clean Water Act and RCRA

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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

Direct investments by the governments using public funds. This can be to support climate initiatives or integrate climate into other projects.

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

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

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions or measures to adapt terrestrial systems to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Actions to adapt human health, healthcare systems and well-being to climate change.

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

Actions and measures to adapt and increase resilience of societies and the economy 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.

Air pollution involves harmful contaminants in the air, affecting both indoor and outdoor environments. It can lead to health issues like respiratory diseases and heart problems, and climate impacts such as global warming. Pollutants can damage plants, trees, habitats, and water bodies like rivers and lakes.

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

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.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

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

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

This sector involves the distribution, treatment, and conservation of water resources.

Climate change can have a range of impacts on technological system. Extreme weather events can cause infrastructure failures like power outages or damage to roads and bridges, as well as the impacts from waste following natural disasters. Human activities also cause technological impacts, such as the risks posed by oil spillage and leaks.

Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

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.

Heavy precipitation refers to any form of weather where substances fall from the sky, including rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

Shell Asked Rhode Island Federal Court to Dismiss Citizen Suit Asserting That Failure to Prepare Terminal for Climate Change Violated Clean Water Act and RCRA

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance