Nelson City Council has been asked to join a group of B.C. municipalities pledged to participate in a class action lawsuit against several big oil companies.
Greg Amos and Ron Robinson, representing Sue Big Oil West Kootenay, said the lawsuit would ask the court to order that oil companies compensate municipalities for costs incurred because their products have caused damage due to climate change.
This includes the need for preventive measures like upgrading storm water systems and mitigating the risks of wildfires and flooding.
"In the summertime, we're looking at heat, drought and smoke, and increasingly dangerous fire seasons," Amos said at a Sept. 24 meeting. "In winter, we're looking at erratic snowfall, polar vortexes, things that can harm tourism and agriculture."
Sue Big Oil is a province-wide organization organized by the non-profit West Coast Environmental Law in Vancouver.
Amos said that the 2021 heat dome in B.C. cost $17 billion in economic losses, extreme heat killed more than 600 British Columbians, and 2023 saw the most destructive and costly wildfire season ever recorded in B.C. and Canada.
Robinson said the major oil companies have known for decades that burning fossil fuels would cause heat waves, wildfires, drought and flooding. He said they have actively deceived the public about this, and should be forced to pay their fair share of the harm they have caused.
A class action is a lawsuit started by one person on behalf of members of a group that have a similar claim against a person or company. In this case, the claim would be advanced by the lead plaintiff – one municipality (its identity not yet decided) – on behalf of a group of municipalities.
Sue Big Oil is attempting to raise $500,000 to start the action and to identify the lead plaintiff. The group is approaching municipalities across B.C., asking for pledges of $1 per population – in Nelson's case about $11,500 – from those who sign on. Nelson and other municipalities would only pay the pledged amount if total pledges reach the $500,000 goal.
The $500,000 would pay for an application to the court (not by Nelson but by the lead plaintiff) asking a judge to declare that the case has legal merit as a class action, and that it may proceed to a trial.
At that point Sue Big Oil would begin fundraising through foundations, philanthropists, and crowdfunding to pay for the hearing.
Andrew Gage, a lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law who is co-ordinating the formation of the class action group, told council that individual municipalities don't have to hire their own lawyer but that a lawyer hired by the lead plaintiff would represent the entire group. He said Nelson, as an individual member of the group, would not be named in the court documents.
Amos added said there is little financial risk in joining the class action.
"In B.C. there is a law that protects municipalities from having to pay legal costs if they happen to lose a (class action) case. So as a municipality, you're protected in that sense. So there isn't the financial risk. It's a case of pooling resources and support."
Amos reported that nine B.C. municipalities have so far pledged and signed on: Burnaby, Cumberland, Gibsons, Port Moody, Qualicum Beach, Sechelt, Slocan, Squamish, and View Royal. Burnaby's involvement is contingent on another municipality of about the same size also joining. He said the group is in active discussions with 16 more.
Amos said the nine municipalities have raised a total of approximately $352,000 so far.
Amos and Robinson said that more than 70 lawsuits have been launched against big oil at the city, county and state level in the U.S., including the cities of New York and Chicago and the State of California.
The Sue Big Oil presentation was made at a Committee of the Whole meeting, during which council hears from delegations but does not make decisions. Council will make a decision at a budget meeting sometime this fall.
