In a historic suit filed by the San Francisco-based Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment and the Anchorage office of the Native American Rights Fund on Tuesday in the US District Court in San Francisco on behalf of the citizens of Kivalina, Alaska, the town is suing twenty four energy companies for emissions causing climate change which is, in turn, causing coastal erosion that threatens the towns continued existence. The complaint (PDF) names one coal company, nine oil companies and fourteen power companies, including Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron, Conoco and Duke Energy, asking that they pay $400 million to move the town to safer ground on the mainland. With oil prices at a record high of over $100 a barrel, this is less than a drop in the bucket for any of these companies.
Kivalina, with a population of 400 mostly Inupiat Eskimos, is located in the Chukchi Sea on a shrinking barrier island that is being buffeted by waves due to shrinking sea ice that formerly acted as a barrier. This town may be small, but they are mighty, demanding a jury trial and putting the concerted efforts of the fossil fuel based energy companies to deny the science of climate change on trial along with their actions, accusing some of those named in the suit of conspiring to intentionally mislead the public by “creating a false scientific debate” about climate change. They go on to give details, calling out Exxon Mobil as the worst offender in terms of creating scientific confusion through the use of “front groups, fake citizens organizations and bogus scientific bodies…”
If the recent Supreme Court hearing on the Exxon Valdez oil spill of nineteen years ago is any indication, this could take a while. So in the meantime, state and federal officials have already been developing plans to try to protect the shorelines of a number of coastal Alaskan villages, with the village of Newtok already beginning to relocate itself. Severe storms in recent years have already required brief evacuations of Kivalina with chunks of seawall being destroyed. The citizens don’t want to wait around for lives to be lost, but they also want the perpetrators to be made responsible.
Reports from the US Corps of Engineers and the US General Accountability Office have both linked the coastal erosion to climate change and warming temperatures, as cited in the lawsuit. The suit goes on to say that the defendants knew or should have known that this would be the impact of their continued carbon emissions. While a similar case in the Eastern US against utility companies was dismissed by a federal court, this case is different in that it seeks specific monetary damages for a specifically injured party and includes the conspiracy claim.
So far, none of the companies have commented on the specifics of the suit, choosing instead to highlight their efforts in terms of carbon capture and clean energy. Too little, too late for the people of Kivalina and other coastal towns. Perhaps the San Francisco District Court will think so, as well.
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