B’klyn pol’s push to sue oil companies

A Brooklyn Democrat is taking aim at fossil-fuel companies over climate change with a proposed bill that critics say might help lawyers more than Mother Earth.

The new legislation introduced by state Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) would allow people to sue big oil companies and other polluters over damage caused by fossil fuels — in a way similar to a controversial Texas law allowing individuals to sue abortion providers.

The bill would target firms that demonstrate “negligence” while “storing, transporting, refining, importing, exporting, producing, manufacturing” products such as petroleum and natural gas, according to the legislative language.

A legislative memo notes that 63% of the carbon dioxide and methane in Earth’s atmosphere was generated by just 90 “entities,” including US-based firms like ExxonMobile and Chevron.

“The costs of inaction are so high — more homes destroyed by worsening floods, more lives ruined by chronic asthma and extreme heat that threatens us all,” Myrie told The Post.

His legislation emulates a controversial Texas abortion law that leans on private citizens, rather than the government, to sue for civil damages to enforce restrictions, even though Myrie told Spectrum News the approach was “odious.”

“But if legislators can use private rights of action to cause harm and restrict access to health care, we should also be able to use this concept to save our planet,” Myrie added.

Critics, however, say the proposed bill is impractical. “We’re not going to eliminate the [fossil fuel] use anytime in the immediate future,” said Ken Pokalsky of the Business Council of New York.