News & Analysis
March 28, 2025
Communities fighting to hold Big Oil accountable for their climate lies scored another win this week when a federal judge ruled that lawsuits filed by two tribal governments in the Pacific Northwest could keep moving forward in state court, where they were originally filed. The ruling makes clear that, despite the oil defendants’ arguments that climate accountability lawsuits against them are preempted by federal laws, “federal jurisdiction is absent here.”
The Makah Indian Tribe and Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe — two federally-recognized sovereign Native Nations that have resided in present-day northwest Washington State for millennia — filed separate cases in 2023 to make ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, and other fossil fuel giants pay for damages caused by sea level rise, flooding, and many other climate-fueled harms that Big Oil knowingly fueled for decades. Both tribes are being forced to relocate to higher ground from the lands where they have lived for millennia because of sea level rise that has been made more severe by climate change.
Internal documents show that Exxon and other major fossil fuel companies knew in the 1970s that the continued use of fossil fuels would lead to sea level rise, among other disasters. Instead of alerting the public to the threat of climate change, Big Oil companies funded a sophisticated deception campaign to cast doubt on the reality of climate science and keep the public reliant on their massively profitable fossil fuels.
“We are facing hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to relocate our community to higher ground and protect our people, our property, and our heritage,” said Charlene Nelson, chairwoman of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe, when the tribe filed in 2023. “These companies need to be held accountable for that.”
The ruling is the latest in a long line of unsuccessful attempts by Big Oil companies to avoid state court, where the climate deception lawsuits were filed. In this case, the oil defendants leaned on the tribes’ status as federally recognized sovereign nations to argue that their claims arose under federal law and therefore belonged in federal court. Judge Jamal Whitehead, however, found that the tribes’ claims could not be reduced to “injury to land,” but rather an “injury to the safety, health, security, and comfort of their citizens,” — rights that fall under Washington state law, not federal. Judge Whitehead went on to say, “That Indian tribes bring these cases does not alter this principle.”
“We intend to hold these companies accountable for hiding the truth about climate change and the effects of burning fossil fuels,” said Makah Tribal Council Chairman Timothy J. Greene, Sr. when the tribe filed its case in 2023. “And we aim to force them to help pay for the high costs of surviving the catastrophe caused by the climate crisis.”
Image Credit: Richard Probst - Shot in a Frame / Flickr
