Sue the bastards.That’s the message from the city of New Westminster which became the latest British Columbia municipality to consider joining a campaign to sue the world’s — and Canada’s — biggest oil companies.Longtime city councillor Tasha Henderson, who is also a noted environmentalist, served a notice of motion for council to explore the costs of joint the ‘Sue Big Oil’ class action lawsuit being proposed by the West Coast Environmental Law foundation.Other celebrity backers include activist Avi Lewis, who proclaims on its website: “Fossil Fuel giants have captured governments and banks, extracting mega-profits while the world burns.”The suit aims to recoup a “fair share” of costs related to climate change, including fires, floods and the impacts from the heat dome two years ago.“For decades, oil and gas corporations have known that burning fossil fuels would cause the heat waves, wildfires, drought and flooding that we’re now experiencing in BC. These multinational companies spent millions to deceive, deny and distract us on their way to billions in profit by preventing action on climate change,” it says..One city councillor, who reportedly attended a concert by folk singer Billy Bragg, quoted lyrics from his song, King Tide and the Sunny Day Flood: “Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could save the world and all simply by collecting up tin cans and empty bottles?”If the motion goes ahead, New Westminster would become the ninth BC municipality to sign on to the suit, following Sechelt, Gibsons, Burnaby, Qualicum Beach, Squamish, View Royal, Slocan and Port Moody.Vancouver proper had considered joining the effort but decided against the move after its new council was elected in 2022.As part of the initiative, participating municipalities would contribute $1 per resident into a legal fund that would presumably be used to pay high-powered lawyers to go after oil companies similar to the way governments sued tobacco companies to recover health costs.That would put New Westminster on the hook for about $79,000. The group is also selling merchandise to fund the campaign..The exact targets haven’t been disclosed — it’s up to the individual municipalities to decide who to sue — but the West Coast Environmental Law website lists the usual suspects: Shell, ExxonMobil and even Saudi Aramco as prime targets.“Your community's climate costs may be clear and dramatic, due to wildfires, heatwaves, drought, flooding, and other extreme weather events, or they may be more subtle, in the form of incremental increases due to maintenance costs, operations, capacity needs, repairs and construction of municipal infrastructure and assets,” it says.“Either way, these costs are only going to rise, and as a local government official, you have a fiscal responsibility to recover some of these costs and to protect your residents and taxpayers from the worst climate impacts.”Similar suits are being launched in in the US and Europe. In 2021, MillieuDefensie (Friends of the Earth, Netherlands) won a case against Royal Dutch Shell ordering it to take responsibility for emissions from its products and take steps to reduce its global emissions.That case is under appeal.South of the border, 70 US cities and states, including California and Chicago, have launched class actions.After gaining the requisite public support — about 13,000 people have signed its ‘declaration’ — Sue Big Oil plans to seek certification for its class action.Although West Coast is a group of non-profit lawyers, it says it has no expectation that it will be retained to file the suit. Rather it expects a diverse team of volunteers and even legal students to take up the cause at “reduced” rates.Opinion polls show about 69% of BC resident either ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ support the idea.
Sue the bastards.That’s the message from the city of New Westminster which became the latest British Columbia municipality to consider joining a campaign to sue the world’s — and Canada’s — biggest oil companies.Longtime city councillor Tasha Henderson, who is also a noted environmentalist, served a notice of motion for council to explore the costs of joint the ‘Sue Big Oil’ class action lawsuit being proposed by the West Coast Environmental Law foundation.Other celebrity backers include activist Avi Lewis, who proclaims on its website: “Fossil Fuel giants have captured governments and banks, extracting mega-profits while the world burns.”The suit aims to recoup a “fair share” of costs related to climate change, including fires, floods and the impacts from the heat dome two years ago.“For decades, oil and gas corporations have known that burning fossil fuels would cause the heat waves, wildfires, drought and flooding that we’re now experiencing in BC. These multinational companies spent millions to deceive, deny and distract us on their way to billions in profit by preventing action on climate change,” it says..One city councillor, who reportedly attended a concert by folk singer Billy Bragg, quoted lyrics from his song, King Tide and the Sunny Day Flood: “Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could save the world and all simply by collecting up tin cans and empty bottles?”If the motion goes ahead, New Westminster would become the ninth BC municipality to sign on to the suit, following Sechelt, Gibsons, Burnaby, Qualicum Beach, Squamish, View Royal, Slocan and Port Moody.Vancouver proper had considered joining the effort but decided against the move after its new council was elected in 2022.As part of the initiative, participating municipalities would contribute $1 per resident into a legal fund that would presumably be used to pay high-powered lawyers to go after oil companies similar to the way governments sued tobacco companies to recover health costs.That would put New Westminster on the hook for about $79,000. The group is also selling merchandise to fund the campaign..The exact targets haven’t been disclosed — it’s up to the individual municipalities to decide who to sue — but the West Coast Environmental Law website lists the usual suspects: Shell, ExxonMobil and even Saudi Aramco as prime targets.“Your community's climate costs may be clear and dramatic, due to wildfires, heatwaves, drought, flooding, and other extreme weather events, or they may be more subtle, in the form of incremental increases due to maintenance costs, operations, capacity needs, repairs and construction of municipal infrastructure and assets,” it says.“Either way, these costs are only going to rise, and as a local government official, you have a fiscal responsibility to recover some of these costs and to protect your residents and taxpayers from the worst climate impacts.”Similar suits are being launched in in the US and Europe. In 2021, MillieuDefensie (Friends of the Earth, Netherlands) won a case against Royal Dutch Shell ordering it to take responsibility for emissions from its products and take steps to reduce its global emissions.That case is under appeal.South of the border, 70 US cities and states, including California and Chicago, have launched class actions.After gaining the requisite public support — about 13,000 people have signed its ‘declaration’ — Sue Big Oil plans to seek certification for its class action.Although West Coast is a group of non-profit lawyers, it says it has no expectation that it will be retained to file the suit. Rather it expects a diverse team of volunteers and even legal students to take up the cause at “reduced” rates.Opinion polls show about 69% of BC resident either ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ support the idea.
