"The Oregon county that includes Portland on Thursday filed a lawsuit against several fossil fuel companies and their business partners in an effort to hold them responsible for a deadly heat wave in 2021.

Multnomah County is suing oil and gas companies including Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP, as well as the American Petroleum Institute, Koch Industries and the consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

The lawsuit claims that greenhouse gas emissions produced by the companies played a significant role in causing the so-called heat dome, which blanketed the Pacific Northwest in stifling temperatures for several days in June and July 2021. It notes that scientific studies determined that the heat dome would not have occurred without the global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels."

David Gelles reports for the New York Times June 22, 2023. [2]