City of Powell River has referred a request to sue big oil companies to staff to bring back a report for a future council meeting for debate.
At the July 11 committee of the whole meeting, councillors heard from a delegation from a group called the Sue Big Oil Committee.
In an email to councillors, Bob Hackett stated that the committee is asking the city to join other BC municipal governments in a potential class-action lawsuit against major fossil fuel companies, seeking to obtain a fair share of the inevitably increasing climate change costs facing the city. Anjelika Hackett stated that the committee’s efforts were part of a BC-wide campaign involving volunteers from many communities.
Anjelika said the committee wants council to adopt a motion similar to one by the Town of View Royal. She said the motion could read something like this: to commit to join a proposed class-action suit against selected fossil fuel companies, contingent upon other BC cities joining, and raising a combined minimum of $500,000, and to set aside $1 per resident for this purpose. A submission by the committee to councillors indicated that setting aside $14,000 to help an alliance of BC cities launch a class-action lawsuit is fiscally responsible.
Another delegate, Neil Abramson, said that suing big oil is not about saving the world from climate change, but is about dealing with costs that have been produced by oil companies. Abramson said this is a question of law and a question about corporate ethics. He said oil companies have been misrepresenting their products for 50 years and have known about the relationship between those products and climate change since 1959.
Abramson said the goal with sue big oil is to keep Powell River taxes down by making big oil pay. There is precedent for class-action lawsuits having to pay, such as the tobacco industry, the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, and the automobile industry, he added.
The enclosure for councillors provided by the Sue Big Oil Committee included a 2018 letter from then-mayor Dave Formosa to a petroleum company asking for financial compensation for the effects of petroleum products on greenhouse gases. Abramson said there was no answer.
Delegation member Jordana Pangburn said she believes in science and the case that West Coast Environmental Law has made. She said after the city’s 2018 letter, she hopes the city will back up that commitment.
“Climate change and wealth inequality are issues my generation cares about,” said Pangburn. “We don’t want to pay for the mistakes of self-serving companies that came before us.”
Pangburn said across BC, 69 per cent of people surveyed support the lawsuit when they understand that it is a way to get fossil fuel companies to pay for some of the costs that otherwise fall to taxpayers.
“This is an issue of taxes, and Powell River’s ability to meet the rising costs of the climate emergency,” said Pangburn. “Class-action lawsuits are well-tried and successful ways to get compensation for destructive corporate products and practices.”
City councillor Rob Southcott asked about the View Royal motion that was passed. He said it would be useful for council to know the details of that.
Andrew Gage, staff lawyer from West Coast Environmental Law, said he had presented to View Royal council.
“I’m not sure which details you are looking for but it was passed, I believe, with one dissent,” said Gage. “The commitment was to join the lawsuit when there was $500,000 raised by municipalities coming into the lawsuit.”
City councillor and committee chair Trina Isakson asked what other municipalities had signed on. Gage said Gibsons and View Royal had joined. The previous Vancouver city council had endorsed the lawsuit but the new council has backed away from that decision, added Gage.
“The campaign is just over a year old and we thought we should talk to people and build awareness about the campaign before making a lot of approaches,” said Gage. “Other than Vancouver, which backed away, you would be the third council to vote on this, after Gibsons and View Royal. There are active campaigns in other municipalities. I think there is a solid basis for more of these going forward.”
Southcott made a motion for a staff report, which was endorsed unanimously.
