As wildfires rage across the West, communities lining the country are holding oil and gas companies for their campaigns of deception on the climate crisis — and demanding that the industry pay their fair share to help cities and states adapt.
This Wednesday, Charleston, South Carolina became the first city in the U.S. South to file a lawsuit against oil giants — two dozen of them, in fact — for lying about the harms they knew their products would cause. Just a day later, Attorney General Kathleen Jennings filed suit against 30 fossil fuel majors and the American Petroleum Institute on behalf of the small state of Delaware. Both lawsuits named the usual top shelf climate polluters, including BP, Shell, Chevron and Exxon.
Both lawsuits draw attention to the billions of dollars these local governments are now spending to address the growing threats of extreme heat, more frequent and severe weather events, and chronic flooding from rapidly rising seas. They also highlight the disproportionate impact on communities of color and those living in poverty, who are far more exposed to climate disasters and have far less access to the resources necessary to protect themselves.
“It’s not fair to the citizens of Charleston to have to bear the burden, the total cost of these improvements that are needed because of sea-level rise,” Mayor John Tecklenberg said during Wednesday’s press conference. “As this lawsuit shows, these companies have known for more than 50 years that their products were going to cause the worst flooding the world has seen since Noah built the Ark."
After Charleston, Delaware became the 22nd municipality or state to file a lawsuit against Big Oil since 2017, the 6th to do so this year, the 4th state after Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Minnesota, and the 3rd lawsuit in the last 8 days. The city of Hoboken, New Jersey filed a similar lawsuit last week.
“The climate crisis Big Oil caused is engulfing the nation, and it is costing communities billions of dollars,” said our executive director, Richard Wiles. “With more than 20 climate lawsuits filed against them, and three in just the last eight days, it is clear that Big Oil is facing its ‘Big Tobacco moment,’ and accountability is coming for them.”
Image credit: Ryan Johnson on Flickr