"CLF Takes Shell to Court Over Waterfront Pollution", 1 July 2018

The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) is taking on one of biggest corporations in the world and one of the city’s more prominent waterfront businesses to court in the name of climate change.  CLF and Royal Dutch Shell, a British-Dutch oil-and-gas conglomerate and the sixth-largest company on the planet, clashed in federal court on June 26.  In its civil lawsuit, CLF accuses Shell’s Providence Terminal of habitually polluting upper Narragansett Bay and being woefully unprepared to address climate change...CLF argued that the 75-acre marine terminal and ethanol railcar terminal with 25 petroleum storage tanks is leaking petroleum and toxic chemicals into the Providence River through stormwater releases.  The facility, which is in a flood zone within the industrial waterfront, is also failing to address sea-level rise, and increased precipitation and damage from future storms, according to the lawsuit...Shell claimed that it can’t be held liable for future threats, only current risks...Shell is seeking a dismissal on the claims related to climate change...A decision is expected in the coming months...