Firm: Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Issue Area: Environment, Climate, & Fossil Fuels
Paul Weiss represented ExxonMobil in Conservation Law Foundation v. ExxonMobil, a lawsuit over Exxon's oil storage terminal in Everett, Massachusetts, on a river that feeds into Boston Harbor. The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) sued in 2016 under the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Paul Weiss partners Ted Wells and Daniel Toal led Exxon's defense, arguing that climate-driven flooding was too remote and speculative to give CLF standing to sue.
In its motion to dismiss, Paul Weiss told the court that nothing in Exxon's permit required it to consider "the speculative risks of climate change."