In the US, more than 10,000 survivors and their allies have called on the Department of Justice to hold fossil fuel polluters accountable.
ADVERTISEMENTA group of citizens is calling on the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate damage done by Big Oil.
Chesapeake Climate Action Network and advocacy group Public Citizen have teamed up to deliver a letter demanding that oil and gas companies be held accountable for fueling climate-driven disasters such as floods, fires, hurricanes and extreme heat that have destroyed property and taken innocent lives.
Signed by more than 10,000, the letter’s signatories include over 1,000 people who have survived climate-fuelled disasters themselves.
They want the DOJ to investigate Big Oil for allegedly fuelling dangerous climate change and intentionally misleading the public about its role.
The delivery of this letter comes at a time when there’s a growing push for justice for the survivors of fossil fuel-driven climate disasters.
In the US, seven individual states as well as 35 municipalities and the District of Columbia are currently crafting significant legislation or already suing the oil and gas industry.
Is there any precedent for other cases being brought against Big Oil?
It’s not just in the States either. In May, non-profit groups and climate victims in France brought the world’s first ever criminal climate lawsuit against the individuals running a major oil company.
The case was filed against French oil giant TotalEnergies and its top shareholders, with claimants seeking a trial for involuntary manslaughter and other consequences of climate change "chaos".
The US letter could pave the way for a similar suit across the pond.
In the letter, it’s laid bare by climate activists that, as early as the 1950s, the fossil fuel industry knew that burning fossil fuels would contribute to climate change.
It also claims that, instead of working to prevent this existential threat, Big Oil continues to sabotage climate solutions, lobby against aggressive climate action, and spend billions to deceive the public.
“Climate catastrophes are not natural disasters - they are crimes perpetrated by the fossil fuel industry,” says Clara Vondrich, Senior Policy Counsel for Public Citizen. “The human toll has been unimaginable, destroying entire communities, wrecking businesses that families built from the ground-up, and stealing lives.
“Climate survivors and their allies have had enough, and our message to the Justice Department is clear: investigate the fossil fuel industry and make polluters pay.
“Big Oil has been sacrificing our health and safety to line their pockets for over half a century. Survivors of climate crimes deserve justice no less than the victims of homicide, arson, assault and battery, armed robbery, and other felonies,” she adds.
The letter is signed by both victims and advocates
In 2018, the Californian town of Paradise, Butte County, saw the worst forest fire in the state’s history: 84 people lost their lives while hundreds of families were displaced for years.
ADVERTISEMENTAn investigation has since found the losses were due to negligence on the part of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E).
Allen Myers, who lived in Paradise, lost his home in the fire. Alongside Public Citizen and Chesapeake Climate Action Network, he is insistent that no such incident can ever happen again - but that might not be possible.
“Another record breaking fire [is sweeping] through Butte County. This year’s Park Fire is the 4th largest wildfire in California history,” Myers explains.
“Let’s be clear, the fingerprints of the fossil fuel industry are all over it. The industry continues to ignore the catastrophic consequences of burning fossil fuels, which heats our atmosphere and increases the scale and frequency of disasters. The Department of Justice needs to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable now,” he adds.
ADVERTISEMENTGabrielle Walton, a Federal Campaigns Associate for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network echoes his sentiments.
“For decades, Big Oil lobbied against aggressive climate action, all while knowing how fossil fuels would drive extreme weather, deadly heat waves, floods and fire. As climate change increasingly and continuously disrupts weather patterns around the world, the number of climate survivors will also grow and languish for justice,” she says.
“The government has the moral responsibility to protect and defend its citizens, and the letter demands that the Department of Justice act on this obligation,” Walton adds, hoping the government will take notice of thousands of people’s desperate pleas.
