The City of Nelson has joined the legal fight against fossil fuel companies for the rising costs of climate change, voting in favour of joining Sue Big Oil.
The Sue Big Oil campaign is a project working towards a class-action lawsuit against global fossil fuel companies.
The initiative is being led by West Coast Environmental Law, the secretariat of Sue Big Oil, and seeks to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the costs of climate change.
The group needs to raise $500,000 to pay for the court application and to be recognized as a class action by the BC Supreme Court.
Nelson Council voted in favour of joining the efforts during the May 6th council meeting, pledging $1.00 per resident ($11,500 in total) into a fund to work towards the lawsuit.
However, council’s decision to join comes with a condition—that the city’s contributions will end in 2030 if the lawsuit has yet to be approved by the courts.
The contribution does not make Nelson a party to the litigation, but rather a financial supporter of associated legal costs leading up to the lawsuit.
Mayor Janice Morrison emphasized that the initiative doesn’t require any action at this point until it is determined by the courts as a class action.
She also noted the minimal legal risk involved by joining, saying provincial law protects those who pursue class actions from being forced to pay any further legal costs.
“If it failed at the Supreme Court, we would have probably spent our $11,500, but there would be no risk of future litigation. I just need to make that really clear. We’re not exposing ourselves to a raft of litigation because that is not allowed in British Columbia.”
Nelson could benefit from the litigation’s outcomes, which could see costs associated with climate impacts – including infrastructure damage, wildfire prevention, and emergency response measures – recovered if the lawsuit is successful.
Councillor Rik Logtenberg was strongly in support of the motion to join, particularly because of the climate impacts the city deals with day-to-day.
“These [fossil fuel] companies lied. They lied to direct harm, and this lie continues to cause harm to the Corporation of the City of Nelson and to Nelson residents, and we need to recover costs. We need the money. And this is one avenue to secure it.”
Nelson is the 11th municipality in BC to join the initiative and the second in the Kootenays, alongside the Village of Slocan.
Be the first to know! Don’t miss out on breaking news and daily updates in your area. Sign up to MyNelsonNow News Alerts.
