Fossil fuel companies already filed by states and localities for allegedly misleading the public for decades about the dangers of burning fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change. Those lawsuits seek money to help communities cope with the risks and damages from global warming, including more extreme storms, floods and heat waves. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, has said repeatedly that the lawsuits are meritless and that climate change is an issue that should be dealt with by Congress, not the courts. Those kinds of lawsuits have had mixed results. A Pennsylvania judge a climate lawsuit that Bucks County filed against several oil companies. Court of Common Pleas Judge Stephen Corr said the lawsuit was beyond the scope of state law. Since it was primarily about greenhouse gas emissions, he said it was a matter for the federal government to deal with under the Clean Air Act. Judge Corr noted that other courts have dismissed similar lawsuits by cities and states, including New Jersey and Baltimore. Boutrous, Chevron's lawyer in the Pennsylvania case, told WHYY that climate change is a "policy issue that needs statewide, nationwide and global cooperation to resolve. These state lawsuits just don't really do anything other than clog the courts." Other cases, though, are moving forward. In January, the Supreme Court to block a climate lawsuit filed by Honolulu, and in March the justices by Republican attorneys general to try to stop climate lawsuits filed by states including California, Connecticut, Minnesota and Rhode Island. The American Petroleum Institute said in statements to NPR at the time that it was disappointed by the Supreme Court's decisions, saying the lawsuits are a "distraction" and "waste of taxpayer resources." , Oil companies face a wrongful death suit tied to climate change Julie Leon died of hyperthermia in Seattle on June 28, 2021 — the hottest day in the city's history. A lawsuit claims she was a , "Big Oil companies are already facing climate fraud and damages lawsuits from dozens of state and local governments," noted Alyssa Johl, vice president of legal and general counsel at the Center .