Energy companies responsible for climate change?

Kivalina is a barrier island off the coast of Alaska. There an Eskimo village of 400 is suing 20 fuel and utility companies for their contribution to climate change which is purported to be the main cause accelerating the erosion of their island. The reason why the village is suing fuel companies such as Exxon Mobile and Shell Oil is that blocks of sea ice used to protect the island’s fragile coast from harsh winter storms. Those blocks of ice no longer form and the high winds from the winter weather are eroding the narrow island’s coastline. Climate change is thought to be the reason the ice blocks are gone and the village wants the fuel companies to pay for their relocation.

This sort of lawsuit is not an aberration; there are two other major lawsuits against big producers of heat-trapping gases filed by environmental groups, private lawyers, and state officials. In Mississippi, Gulf Coast property owners claim emissions produced by local industry intensified Hurricane Katrina.

There may be more of a case then one first thinks. The lawsuit is filed under the same laws that allow a person to file a complaint against a neighbor for noise or odors that are a nuisance. Similar cases in the past include lawsuits brought against tobacco companies and the asbestos industry.

I think proving beyond a reasonable doubt the link between fuel companies and climate change, making tehse firms directly responsible for the erosion of Kivalina will be difficult--like tracing the butterfly effect. But as the article points out this, and similar, lawsuits will bring the issue of climate change toward the front of the national debate once again and will put pressure on Congress to address climate change and heat-trapping gases. More lawsuits and more pressure to pass laws regarding climate change are expected to come.

--Jon Bickford