California cities San Francisco and Oakland filed separate lawsuits against five oil companies on Wednesday seeking billions of dollars to protect against rising sea levels they blamed on climate change...

The lawsuits, filed in state courts in San Francisco and Alameda Counties, alleged Chevron Corp, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp, BP Plc, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, created a public nuisance and asked for funds to finance infrastructure to deal with rising sea levels...

“Should this litigation proceed, it will only serve special interests at the expense of broader policy, regulatory, and economic priorities,” said Chevron spokeswoman Melissa Ritchie.

Shell said in statement the issue should be addressed by government policy and cultural change, not by courts.

Exxon called the lawsuits’ claims without merit, and said it would defend itself. ConocoPhillips declined to comment. BP did not respond to a request for comment...