News & Analysis
July 9, 2020
The Atlantic County Board of Chosen Freeholders has unanimously passed a resolution supporting calls for New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney General Gurbir Grewal to take legal action against major fossil fuel polluters to recover the costs of coping with worsening climate disasters.
The freeholders voted to support two pending resolutions from the state Senate and Assembly calling on the attorney general and governor to join cities, counties, and states across the country and file suit on behalf of New Jersey “in order to shift the past and projected costs associated with the harms caused by climate change onto the companies responsible for causing those harms.” The Senate resolution, introduced this past March, is scheduled for a committee vote next week.
In a state seeing more frequent and severe storms, climbing temperatures, and rising seas at more than twice the global average, the effects of which taxpayers are currently paying for entirely on their own, local governments are right to demand that polluters contribute their fair share. Atlantic County alone could face at least $2.1 billion in seawall costs to defend against chronic flooding by 2040, according to a study published by the Center for Climate Integrity last year.
In the meantime, the companies that profited from the sale of fossil fuels — and lied about the disasters they knew their products would cause — haven’t paid a cent for the consequences.
Atlantic County wouldn’t be the first to urge New Jersey leaders to hold Big Oil accountable. In November 2019, the New Jersey League of Municipalities passed a resolution in support of “local governments’ rights and efforts to mitigate climate change damages and protect taxpayers from related adaptation costs.” The boroughs of Sea Bright and Bradley Beach passed their own resolutions this year.
This latest demand for justice comes after the filing of two new lawsuits and several big wins for climate accountability in court. Big Oil better hold onto their hats — the tide is coming in.
Image by Peter Miller on Flickr.
