Multnomah County officials recently named NW Natural, a regional gas utility serving more than two million people across Oregon and southwest Washington, as a defendant in their $52 billion lawsuit against fossil fuel companies.^[1] The complaint alleges the companies bear direct responsibility for the 2021 heat dome that killed hundreds of people across the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia.^[2]

While the suit is the first to make environmental deception claims against a utility, it will not be the last. As local governments push for electrification and decarbonization, utilities like NW Natural will increasingly find themselves at the center of the fight. This shift reflects a growing recognition that utilities are not just intermediaries, but rather key players in maintaining the infrastructure that enables continued dependence on fossil fuels.

Like many larger fossil fuel companies, NW Natural responded to shifts in public opinion about climate change by marketing itself as a leader in the clean energy transition. For example, NW Natural has aggressively promoted renewable natural gas (RNG) as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, attempting to position RNG as a critical component of Oregon’s energy future.^[3] However, as critics point out, RNG is far from a comprehensive solution.^[4] Production of RNG is expensive and not viable at the scale required to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.^[5] A 2019 study from the American Gas Foundation estimated that RNG costs between $7 and $45 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), compared to $3 to $4 for conventional natural gas.^[6] RNG is also primarily made up of methane, which is over 80 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.^[7] Environmental groups argue that by emphasizing RNG, the utility is distracting from the urgent need to electrify the region’s energy systems. As one critic put it, NW Natural’s greenwashing campaign is “a bait and switch,” using ratepayer dollars to promote a technology that expands reliance on fossil gas rather than reducing it.^[8]

NW Natural has also actively lobbied against electrification efforts at the local level.^[9] As a business dependent almost entirely on the production of methane gas, it views cities’ climate initiatives as existential threats. The utility has worked to defeat policies that would restrict gas infrastructure in new construction, particularly in cities like Eugene, where local governments have sought to ban gas hookups in new buildings.^[10] In an effort to sustain a pretense of environmental stewardship, the company has turned to covert action.^[11] For example, it was the sole funder of “Eugene Residents for Energy Choice,” an astroturf organization that has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into fighting Eugene’s proposed electrification policies.^[12] Similar disputes between activists and utilities have become commonplace in the more than 70 cities that have pursued gas hookup bans since 2019.^[13]

The other major source of backlash against NW Natural, and one of Multnomah’s primary legal arguments against it, is its marketing efforts. While they vary in scope and substance, current climate lawsuits largely proceed from the same basic argument—that fossil fuel companies engaged in a decades-long campaign of misinformation designed to mislead consumers about the sources of climate change. Key to the industry’s efforts to deceive consumers has been the practice of “greenwashing,” a reputational marketing tactic companies use to paint themselves as more environmentally friendly than they are. At the national level, the best example of greenwashing is the substantial number of “advertorials”—op-eds designed to look like impartial news articles—that appeared in most major outlets over the last several years.^[14]

NW Natural’s inclusion in the Multnomah suit sheds light on more intimate, localized forms of corporate greenwashing. The complaint draws particular attention to how the utility has marketed itself and its products to children and educators. In 2021, for example, NW Natural sent free activity booklets to school children in its service region that extolled the environmental benefits of RNG.^[15] One booklet, aimed at children in kindergarten through second grade, depicted a cat and mouse as they participated in various household activities involving RNG.^[16] The image concluded with the message, “Natural gas can be used in many ways in and around our homes.”^[17] In 2023, NW Natural sponsored a training at its Portland headquarters to educate school teachers on hydrogen and RNG.^[18] It offered each participant a $200 stipend and reimbursed travel expenses for those who lived more than 50 miles away.^[19] Protests eventually led to the cancellation of the trainings.^[20]

The decision to include NW Natural as a defendant in Multnomah County’s climate lawsuit could mark a turning point in the legal fight against fossil fuel companies. It highlights how greenwashing affects the daily lives of consumers and shows that utilities, not just global oil giants, play a significant role in perpetuating fossil fuel dependence. As more cities move toward electrification and decarbonization, utilities that resist these efforts will likely face similar lawsuits.

 

^[1] Emily Sanders, The First Gas Utility Sued for Climate Deception Faces Backlash for Astroturfing, ExxonKnews (Oct. 10, 2024), https://www.exxonknews.org/p/the-first-gas-utility-sued-for-climate.

^[2] U.S. Dep’t. of Agric., 2021 Northwest Heat Dome: Causes, Impacts, and Future Outlook, Climate Hubs, https://www.climatehubs.usda.gov/hubs/northwest/topic/2021-northwest-heat-dome-causes-impacts-and-future-outlook (last visited Oct. 17, 2024); Second Amended Complaint at 2, County of Multnomah v. Exxon Mobil, No. 23CV25164 (Or. Cir. Ct. Oct. 7, 2024).

^[3] Nick Cunningham, Oregon Utility NW Natural Is Greenwashing “Renewable” Natural Gas. Don’t Fall for It, DeSmog (May 6, 2021, 6:00 PM), https://www.desmog.com/2021/05/06/oregon-utility-greenwashing-renewable-natural-gas-climate/.

^[4] Laura Feinstein & Eric de Place, The Smoke and Mirrors Defense of Renewable Natural Gas, Sightline Inst. (Apr. 19, 2021, 5:11 PM), https://www.sightline.org/2021/04/19/the-smoke-and-mirrors-defense-of-rng/.

^[5] Id.

^[6] Cunningham, supra note 3; Am. Gas. Foundation, Renewable Sources of Natural Gas: Supply and Emissions Reduction Assessment, 50 (2019), https://www.gasfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AGF-2019-RNG-Study-Full-Report-FINAL-12-18-19.pdf. This is not to suggest that conventional natural gas is a viable alternative energy source either, but simply that the merits of RNG may be overblown.

^[7] Josie Garthwaite, Methane and Climate Change, Stanford Doerr Sch. of Sustainability (Nov. 2, 2021), https://sustainability.stanford.edu/news/methane-and-climate-change-0#:~:text=Over%20the%20first%20two%20decades,of%20warming%20the%20climate%20system.

^[8] Cunningham, supra note 3.

^[9] Nick Cunningham, Major Gas Utility Is Pouring Money Into Reversing an Oregon City’s Electric-Only Mandate, DeSmog (Mar. 7, 2023, 12:53 PM), https://www.desmog.com/2023/03/07/major-gas-utility-is-pouring-money-into-reversing-an-oregon-citys-electric-only-mandate/.

^[10] Id.

^[11] Id.

^[12] Id.

^[13]Sander Kushen, California’s Cities Lead the Way to Pollution-Free Homes and Buildings, Sierra Club (Feb. 14, 2023), https://www.sierraclub.org/articles/2021/07/californias-cities-lead-way-pollution-free-homes-and-buildings.

^[14] Chelsea Harvey et al., Could the U.S. Ban Fossil Fuel Ads?, Scientific American (June 7, 2024), https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/banning-fossil-fuel-ads-would-be-legally-difficult-in-the-u-s/.

^[15] Second Amended Complaint at 182, County of Multnomah v. Exxon Mobil, No. 23CV25164 (Or. Cir. Ct. Oct. 7, 2024).

^[16] Sanders, supra note 1.

^[17] Nick Cunningham, Gas Utility Sends Kid-Friendly Activity Books to Oregon Schools, DeSmog (May 25, 2022, 3:33 PM),https://www.desmog.com/2022/05/25/northwest-natural-gas-utility-oregon-schools-booklets/.

^[18] Anthony Effinger, Gas Fight Continues as Students Plan Protest of Teacher Training Sponsored by NW Natural, Willamette Wk. (Jan. 20, 2023, 5:25 PM), https://www.wweek.com/news/schools/2023/01/20/gas-fight-continues-as-students-plan-protest-of-teacher-training-sponsored-by-nw-natural/.

^[19] Id.

^[20] Id.