Shell Oil, the first defendant to respond to a Rhode Island lawsuit seeking to hold oil companies accountable for climate change, motioned to take the case to federal court..The "public nuisance" claim applies under a law that allows the state to prevent pollution of public property, but federal courts have sometimes rejected this argument in lawsuits related to climate change...The move comes weeks after federal judges threw out similar lawsuits brought by Oakland, San Francisco, and New York City against fossil fuel companies, ruling that the responsibility falls to Congress and the executive branch.