Oakland and San Francisco Lawsuits to Hold Fossil Fuel Companies Accountable for Their Contributions to Sea Level Rise a 'Bold and Necessary Step to Protect Their Communities,' Says Science Group

by Ken Kimmell (Union of Concerned Scientists) Oakland and San Francisco today (September 20, 2017) announced lawsuits against fossil fuel companies seeking compensation for current and future costs of adapting to climate-related sea level rise. These lawsuits come on the heels of three similar suits filed in July by three California coastal counties, San Mateo and Marin counties and the city of Imperial Beach. Like those lawsuits, the plaintiffs are alleging that climate change impacts will damage city-owned and -operated infrastructure, beaches and parks, and threaten to displace their residents.

“The cities of Oakland and San Francisco have taken a bold and necessary step to protect their communities. It is appropriate that people are now looking to the courts, instead of legislators, to help hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their contributions to sea level rise and other climate impacts.

“Our recently-published peer-reviewed study identified just how much product-related emissions tied to specific fossil fuel companies contributed to the global sea level to rise, and can inform approaches for juries and judges to calculate damages in such lawsuits. We hope this quickly growing field of research will be useful in more public and legal assessments of how best to hold carbon producers accountable for their contributions to climate change.” READ MORE

Excerpt from The Hill: San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., are suing five major oil companies, blaming them for the effects of climate change.

The cities announced Wednesday they each filed a lawsuit in their respective county courts against Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips Co., ExxonMobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell and BP.

The lawsuits by two of California’s largest cities add to an emerging legal strategy to try to hold individual fossil fuel companies responsible for rising sea levels, extreme weather and other effects of human-induced climate change.

The cities sit on opposite sides of San Francisco Bay, which has already seen rising water levels due to climate change. The city attorneys say that further increases in sea level would inundate properties and cause billions of dollars worth of damage.

The lawsuits are far from the first attempt to sue fossil fuel companies for climate change, but previous actions have not been successful. A 2008 lawsuit by an Alaska village, for example, was dismissed because the federal court ruled that the Clean Air Act overrode any public nuisance claim. READ MORE