"Two PNW tribal nations sue oil companies over costs of climate change" 21 Dec 2023

Major oil companies for decades deliberately sought to downplay and discredit scientific warnings about the central role of fossil fuels in causing climate change, alleges two lawsuits filed this week by the Makah and Shoalwater Bay tribes.

The lawsuits filed in King County Superior Court name ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 as defendants, and seek compensation for the millions of dollars already spent, and likely to be spent in the future, for the tribes to respond to climate-induced disasters such as extreme heat, drought, wildfire, shoreline erosion, sea level rise and flooding.

The lawsuits allege the companies have known fossil fuels would cause catastrophic climate change since at least 1959, but continued marketing massive quantities of oil and gas. They allege the oil companies tried to mislead the public by funding op-eds and advertisements in Seattle and national newspapers that claimed the science of climate change was uncertain or lacking evidence.

The Seattle Times reached out to the six companies listed as defendants for comment Thursday morning, but as of late afternoon, only Phillips 66 had responded. A spokesperson declined to comment.

The complaints outline the companies’ research and misleading marketing around their products’ role in causing climate change and the sea level rise, extreme weather, public health harms and other climate effects on the tribes and their lands.

With both the Makah and Shoalwater Bay reservations on the Pacific Ocean, they are particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, the lawsuits state. Both tribes have already incurred the costs of moving their citizens to higher ground, and ocean acidification “at an alarming rate” from burning fossil fuels has endangered the tribes’ coastal ecosystems and economy, according to the lawsuits.

“We are seeing the effects of the climate crisis on our people, our land, and our resources. The costs and consequences to us are overwhelming,” said Makah Tribal Council Chair Timothy J. Greene, Sr. in a statement...

The tribes bring their claims under Washington’s Products Liability Act for failure to warn, misrepresentation and intentional concealment. The complaints request jury trials, and ask the court to order the companies to create a fund to be managed by the tribes to remediate and adapt reservation lands, natural resources and infrastructure to climate change...