Flooded Village Files Suit, Citing Corporate Link to Climate Change
The eroding village of Kivalina in the Northwest Arctic is suing Exxon Mobil and 23 other energy companies for damage related to global warming.
The suit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco on behalf of the Native village’s federally recognized tribe and its city government, according to lawyers for the village.
Kivalina, located on a shrinking barrier island in the Chukchi Sea, says the energy companies should pay to move the village to safer ground.
“We need to relocate now before we lose lives,” said Janet Mitchell, city administrator for Kivalina, in a press release announcing the lawsuit.
The companies are contributing to global warming that is threatening to destroy the village, according to the lawsuit, which demands a jury trial. The defendants include one coal company, nine oil companies and 14 power companies. Three of the oil companies - Exxon, BP and Conoco Phillips - operate on Alaska’s North Slope.
Exxon spokesman Gantt Walton said Tuesday that the company needs more time to review the lawsuit before commenting. Conoco and BP officials in Alaska declined to comment for this story.
In the past few years, cost estimates to relocate Kivalina to the mainland have varied between $95 million and $400 million.
State and federal officials are working on plans for additional shoreline protection for Kivalina and other coastal villages threatened by erosion. There is no plan for relocating them yet. One village, Newtok, has begun relocating itself.
State officials hadn’t heard about the lawsuit Tuesday and didn’t know how it would affect their planning.
“Now there is a good question. … It would take quite a bit of time to accomplish anything through the courts, as evidenced by Exxon Valdez and other things,” said Mike Black, deputy commissioner for the state Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. He was referring to the civil lawsuit filed by fishermen and other plaintiffs for damages related to the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. The case is being argued in the U.S. Supreme Court today.
SEVERE STORMS
Kivalina’s nearly 400 residents, most of them Inupiat Eskimo, have been buffeted by severe storms in recent years. Last fall, many residents briefly evacuated Kivalina worrying that a big storm would wipe out homes and other buildings. The storm wasn’t as bad as feared but it took out a chunk of the village’s seawall.
The lawsuit cites reports published by the U.S. Corps of Engineers and the U.S. General Accountability Office that have linked erosion in coastal areas of Alaska to climate change and rising temperatures.
Sea ice forms and attaches to the coast later in the year, breaks up earlier and is less extensive and thinner, exposing the village to storm waves and surges, according to the lawsuit.
“Each of the defendants knew or should have known of the impacts of their emissions on global warming and on particularly vulnerable communities such as coastal Alaskan villages,” the complaint says.
ALLEGED CONSPIRACY
Some of the companies, especially Exxon, also are liable for damages to Kivalina because they are guilty of conspiring to “create a false scientific debate” about global warming to deceive the public, according to the lawsuit.
The legal complaint details the alleged conspiracy, saying that trade associations have “formed and used front groups, fake citizens organizations and bogus scientific bodies … . The most active in such efforts is and has been defendant Exxon Mobil,” the suit claims.
Walton of Exxon defended his company’s stance on climate change. The company takes the issue seriously and is reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, funding research and talking about climate change policy with governments around the world, he said.
The law firms spearheading the lawsuit are the San Francisco-based Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment and the Anchorage office of the Native American Rights Fund.
Nine other attorneys are involved. Some are litigating other climate change-related suits, including defending California’s attempt to force auto makers to company with its greenhouse emissions limits, which are stricter than federal regulations.
This isn’t the first time an Eskimo group has pointed blame at others for climate change. In 2005, the chairwoman of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and more than 60 Inuit hunters and elders in Alaska and Canada asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to hold hearings in Canada and Alaska to investigate harm posed to Inuit people in the Arctic by climate change, and to declare the United States in violation of human rights law as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
The commission rejected the petition but allowed testimony at a brief hearing last March in Washington, D.C.
In addition to Exxon, BP and Conoco, the Kivalina lawsuit names Chevron Corp., Shell Oil Co., Peabody Energy Corp., AES Corp., American Electric Power Co., DTE Energy Co., Duke Energy Corp., Dynegy Holdings Inc., Edison International, MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., Mirant Corp., NRG Energy, Pinnacle West Capital Corp., Reliant Energy Inc., Southern Co., Xcel Energy Inc. and a few other affiliated companies.
Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.
© 2008 Anchorage Daily News
some really big money they are against there. even if a miracle happens, and they do win, it wont matter. The guilty ones will just appeal over a twenty year process, and by the time it reaches the Supreme Court; kavalina will be under water. but then again, forcing the swine to court is a victory in and of itself.
A little irony, asking the State of Alaska about it: Alaska runs on oil money, and is flush with it. Alaska can pay for their relocation, and should (will have to, probably.)
Great to read about this lawsuit immediately happening in a remote village and going to San Franscico court.
Thanks to the internet- we are learning about this immediately and able to follow this canary in the coalmine event.
No more remote islands that nobody hears about. The whole world is watching and putting Exon on the spot with their billions and their decades of misinformation about global warming. They will not be able to hide.
This will help to switch to carbon dioxide free fuel, to conservation, to dealing with overpopulation and all the wasteful dumps that need to be decreased- stop plastic bags: It was done in 3 weeks in Ireland were they but a 33 cent tax on every plastic bag— a move that can only happen when the public tells the corporation to tone down and let the planet speak for itself.
Great report from Alaska– we should all send them a dollar and support- the Inuits are the white pollar bear humans.
Now was that story on the evening news? If not- what are we going to do about spreading this around?
This is just the beginning of waves of migration due to sea level increases and more intense and frequent storms. Anyone who’s travelled a lot knows just how vulnerable the coasts are, with their high population densities.
Unfortunately, the costs of moving people will be much higher than finding alternative energy sources, or even replacing the combustion engine. (Diesel engines can run on bio-fuels and are combustion, but the vast majority are gasoline-based.)
We need to be moving away from fossil fuels now to avoid more Kivalinas. Think of all the towns that will have to be moved. Is changing to more sustainable source of energy unnecessary and elective or is it a pragmatic and urgent cost-savings that must be done now to prevent irreparable damage later? Going sustainable is needed now, not to make people feel better or even do the right thing, but to prevent worse things from happening sooner than we’ve anticipated.
I mean, what further evidence do you need of global warming? Even on this website I often read posts by idiots who are still debating whether global warming is happening. Jesus christ. Kivalina island is disappearing into the sea and there are all these clowns just yapping away, “Is it real? Is it cyclical? blah blah effin’ blah”. Whatever! Yap away armchair intellectual windbags. Meanwhile, the Kivalina tribe is literally having to get the f*ck off what was once their island home…or be submerged.
re “creating false scientific debate:”
didn’t the SCOTUS rule recently that lying is protected by the first amendment?
Hazmat Said: “didn’t the SCOTUS rule recently that lying is protected by the first amendment?”
Yes they did. That was in relation to Fox news firing two reporters for refusing to lie on the air about BGH. The ruling said that it was within Fox’s 1st amendment rights to lie on air and there was no expectation of truthfulness on TV News.
Well, maybe we can’t get truthfulness, but instead some truthiness would be nice…
Bless those people for being the first to file suit…hopefully….there will be more suits and courageous lawyers, who will take on more corporations…in the mean time…stop buying STUFF….and use the money you save to send a letter to the corporations telling them ENOUGH!!!!!
Man bears only a little responsibility for global warming.The Earth is just going through its natural cycle.Everyone on this planet will have to buckle down for the next four years or so….we are in for a heck of a ride!
The truth is that Kivalina is not the first community in Alaska that has had to relocate because of global warming. Point Hope has moved several times in the past fifty years as well as alot of other small communities.
It is the frequency of these evacuations that is unacceptable. And, yes, Alaska will probly end up funding the move. Not because Alaska’s main industry is oil; fishing is a huge industry and always has been. Alaska could end up funding the move just to make sure it gets done right.
They should instead sue the public officials formerly in charge of regulating commerce in the public interest. The punitive damages would discourage public officials from serving corporate interests and encourage them to serve the public interests. In a functional society, the government performs the studies and makes the decisions about limits on the size of corporations and other regulations on commerce that best serve the public interests.
Shouldn’t the headline read:
Flooded Village Files Suit, Citing Corporate (no, that’s not broad enough. How about: Citizens of Industrialized Nations) Link to Climate Change.
Gee, I wish I lived near the shore. But being 72 now and figure a 20 to 25+ year lawsuit, guess it don’t really matter.
Google Arctic methane gas, ___then scroll down to the article titled,
__”Methane Burps, A Ticking Time bomb.”__
It was penned by a very highly regarded geologist, John Atcheson, and it fully explains the greatest threat to all of humanity, __ which includes our children and theirs. Takes about five minutes to read it.
~THROMRICK 747~ You say, “man bears only a little responsibility for Global Warming”. Really?
According to the U.S. Geological society, humanity emits Co2 in the amount of 17,000 volcanoes, the size of Hawaii’s Kilauea, every single day. That 17,000 figure is not a typo, it is seventeen thousand.
The C02 in our atmosphere is 50 times greater than it was in the 1900s. Co2 is a greenhouse gas and it prevents heat from escaping our atmosphere. ___ Humanity started burnng fossil fuels in earnest 200 years ago and for certain, humaity is responsible for the global warming we are now experiencing. `
If you were a Exxon lawyer fighting this law suit and said that in court, I’d wax your ass THROMRICK.
Kudos to Kem Patrick and Zamboni_fahrer; great comments guys!
Hey man-made globlal warmers - you know who you are - the earth has a ‘fever’ types- as if you know what the 98.6F ‘correct’ temp is for the earth. Hah.
This is simply more evidence that there are trial lawyers interested in contingency fees and willing to roll the dice that they can find a sympathetic venue where they can reach into the deep pockets of some evil corporation.
If you haven’t been following the news lately let me bring you up to date. Arctic sea ice has expaneded to cover an area 2 million square km. larger than the average for the last 20 years or so. (records only go back for around 35 years). It has been reported that some polar bears are having trouble finding food because the ice it too thick. News flash to a certain Nobel prize winner - better update your power point slides on that polar bears suffer because there is too little ice argument.
Bottom line - climate changes. It get warmer, it gets cooler, wetter & dryer. But changing your lightbulbs and riding a bike aren’t going to affect things.
Great news! Exxon Mobil alone posted $34 billion profits last year; think of all the others, too. Of course they know what they’re doing. I think every city located at sea level should be sueing now. Then we’ll see the politicians take global warming seriously. Even if some of the science were debatable, cleaning up our act as a species is the best way to spend oil companies’ profits, I think.
~gL TIREBITER~ could you offer some links on that increasing ice in the Arctic? If you Google a site where you can observe the planet from space, the Arctic ice pack is much smaller now than it was just three years ago.
Exxon has their own lawyers, they fought a losing class action lawsuit against thousands of dealers for over 15 years. They lost and appealed, lost and appealed. Meanwhile they put over a billion in a trust fund and earned interest on the money. Now, finally they have to pay up. The ironic thing is, the final court judge, ordered Exxon to pay the dealers the interest they’d earned also. So don’t hand us that nonsense about what corporate lawyers will do with the dice.
Just Google Exxon dealers class action lawsuit and check it out.
Find out what life is like in an endangered coastal Inupiat village in my award-winning novel “Flight of the Goose”
http://www.lesleythomas.alaskawriters.com
Kem - here it is:
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/02/15/arctic-ice.html
And while your dislike of Exxon & their tactics in litigation makes for an interesting side bar it have nothing whatsoever to do with the claim by the villagers that XOM & and the co-defendants are causing the conditions that threaten their village.
Thank you for that link, ~Tirebiter~.
However, reading the words carefully, it is not at all a permanent situation, global warming is causing serious climate fluxuations and global warming caused by burning fossil fuels is certainly not a myth. The ice in Anarticia is still melting rapidly for example. There is no viable argument that the Co2 levels we experience now when compared to 1808 are over 50 times higher than they have been for the past 50 billion years. The ice core samples prove that beyond any argument.
The last time the Arctic methane burst out into our atmosphere and killed off over 90% of life on Earth was over 50 million years ago. That was caused by global warming, which was not man made, but by volcanic activity and a strike by a huge asteroid, which left a crater 100 miles across. The global warming then was caused by a different method, but the end result will be the same. We may not be able to prevent global warming caused by nature, but we sure as hell can prevent it from burning fossil fuels. ___ But we won’t.
No the Exxon Dealers class action lawsuit has nothing to do with the villagers named in this article. I’m saying large corporations will fight any lawsuit with their OWN lawyers and could care less about legal fees. They aren’t going to court to make money when defending themeselves.
On the flip side of that coin, if a law firm has taken the case and filed a class action lawsuit for the villagers, they have tossed the dice and pretty well know they have a winning case or they wouldn’t bother. They will be the big winners in the end.
In addition ~Tirebiter~ the ice pack on Greenland is still melting away, the glaciers in Glacier National park are almost gone. Due to low snowfalls in the Rocky mountains, lake Mead will be dry in ten years or so. The ice packs in mountains in Asia are rapidly disappearing and major rivers will be dry in a few years. Don’t believe that because some ice came back in the Arctic this winter that the problem of global warming does not exist.
Globa warmng is responible for drastic climate changes and wild temperature fluxuations all around the planet.
Kem, Kem…take a breath. Glaciers advance; they retreat. Climate is a complex beast and it is simply not so that the “science” is settled.
CO2 50X higher than over the last 50 billion? (or is it 200 years?) - nope - more like 35% 285ppm to about 385ppm.
http://cdiac.ornl.gov/ftp/trends/co2/lawdome.smoothed.yr20
and
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/
Temperatures have certainly been higher in the (as geological time goes) recent past - the midieval climate optimum was significantly warmer than today’s conditions - and guess what - the world didn’t end. Those Vikings drove their SUV’s all over Greenland with nary a care.
It may be - probably is - true that there is some warming underway. However, given the news that we are at a new, very low sunspot activity period that looks to be ushering in a period of cooling that may change.
Here is the bottom line: human activity - to the extent it matters at all - is a sideshow. It has been latched onto by all the usual central planning big government types who know better than the common folk how things should work.
Check out the work of Bjorn Lomborg- the Danish scientist and btw - socialist. He argues that spending resources to curtail human CO2 producing activity is a waste of resources when compared to all the actually worthwhile alternatives. Clean drinking water and AIDS treatment are two examples.
So, Kem, the science isn’t settled and the good news is - the bad news is wrong.
I see, ~Tirebiter~ so you are saying global warming is normal and mankind has little to do with the current situation, based upon a few scientists words.
Therefore, the U.S Geological Society is wrong and so is Dr. john Atcheson and thousands of other highly respected scientists, who have spent their entire adult lives, studying our climate, past and present, the enviroment and the atmosphere and who have no political agendas to cloud their findings. Wow, hope you are correct, but fear you are giving just enough flawed information, to create confusion and cause controvesary on the issue.
I don’t post MY opinions here, nor do I need ot take any deep breaths. I assure you, I am quite calm. I post opinions based entirely upon what I read from those I trust. I do that primarily to argue with people who deny global warmng is caused by humanity this time in Earth’s history. For the themost serious issue facing humanity and all live on Earth should not be controversial. It is sadly, because mega-corporstions wish to continue to sell their oil, coal and uranium and control most of the world’s wealth.
BTW, if you carefully study the Viking history, they named that island “Greenland”, so they could fool and enitce people to re-locate there and settle it. If you believe that Greenland has been ice free, except for some small coastal areas, for any periods in the past 5,000+ years, you are very badly mis-informed.
~TIREBITER~ I would sincerely appreciate it, if you would Google, Arctic methane gas and then scroll down to the article written by Dr. Atcheson, titled, “Methane Burps, A Ticking Time Bomb”. take the few minutes required to read it and then return here and argue his findings.
If that Arctic Methane gas is released into our atmosphere, it will replicate the event which occurred 50 million years ago on Earth, and over 90% of ALL life on this planet was eradicated within days. Dr. Atcheson states that the methane IS INDEED going to “burp” and it is inevitable, UNLESS we cease using fossil fuels as we currently are.
So please TIREBITER, please do take the time to read his brief report and then tell us that Atcheson is wrong, and why you believe he is.
Kem - you say that “I don’t post MY opinions here…” and in the next not so deep breath say that global warming is “…themost serious issue facing humanity”.
Well, excuse me if I missed something - but that is what I’d call “Your Opinion”.
So you can stamp your feet and rail aqainst the mega corporations (that’s an original thought around this place…)but it ain’t gonna change the FACT that Global Warming is not a crisis; that man’s impact on climate is minimal;and that there are more serious issues where our resources can be better utilized that some quixotic quest to move the thermometer a couple of tenths of a degree.
I bid you adieu.
There are a great number of indigenous peoples who refer to themsleves as “first responders”. Listening to their knowledge of events through out history that their families have passed on I am sure one would find the proof that global warming caused by humans is very real. Because they live the reality. They don’t just read about it.
~TIREBITER~, I said quite plainly, that I base my opinions on the global warming issue, totally upon the writings of true experts on the subject. I do quote their words. I don’t just dream them up.
I could for example, state that I think John Edwards is a better choice for the presidency than anyone else and that would be my personal opinion which is not based upon scientific facts. So your criticism of what I wrote in regards to global warming is not sensible and shows that you are just trying to cause friction on this site with your rather now rude comments.
Also your saying certain things to me, which others here may read, with an attempt to be-little me, such as, “Kem, Kem, take a breath”, or imply that I am “stomping my feet”, as if I were an uniformed and spoiled, bratty child. __ Piss off troll, you give yourself away.
Also, you may bid me “adieu” (that is so cute) if you so choose. It sure don’t bother me one little bit to see another Neo-Con troll say goodby here. Change your handle and return another day. __ I’ll be here.
I also see you refused to reply to my valid and cordial request, to read Dr. Atchuson’s report and argue his technical findings. I’m not at all surprised you refused, for you could not sensibly argue it. Crawl off scum. You incredible denyers of the most serious issue humanity faces, make me sick. How can you even sleep at night. Oh, right. ___ No conscience,__ or perhaps no children.
tirebiter….im glad to see someone else has the honesty to say what they know to be true in regards to global warming.It is a natural process.Kem Patrick it is one thing to rely on what others say and another thing going and doing your own research.I have and based upon my knowledge gained in a very short period of time I know that climate change is a natural process that the Earth does on a regular basis.We just happen to be lucky enough to be alive to see it for ourselves.
Wow!!! ~THOMRICK 747~ and so YOU also say the U.S. Geological Society is wrong, Dr. Atcheson is wrong, thousands of other scientists are wrong about the global warmng issue and that your scientific findings are based upon YOUR OWN PERSONAL research, which you have conducted in a very short time period. How impressive. ___ My God, where on this planet do you guys come from?
Tell us wizard, what do the ice core samples YOU have taken from the poles indicate? What mathamatical formulas did YOU use to compute the complicated scientific proof required, to figure how much Co2, methane gas, etc, is present in our atmosphere, and how much was present 300, or 5000+ years ago and why is heat being trapped in our atmosphere by the greenhuse effect and what significance does that have on our climate changes? Perhps YOU could elighten us incredible idiots with some appropriate facts.
Who are you attempting to bullshit? If the subject matter was not so deadly serious, you would be quite humerous ~Thomrick 747~.
Perhaps you are very much like another blogger,___ ~LIZARD~, ___ who posted over 70 comments, denying global warming on Monday alone. The Lizard claims to be a practicing MD, a scientist of some type, and has a PHD in geology. He is another troll of the first order and is quite proud of the fact, that he has been banned on another progressive site, for constantly posting his nut-case comments which are very similar to yours.
Common Dreams does not ban people such as you and I like that. For your type brings out some excellent comments from well educated and informed people here. So rave on troll, rave on.
Wow! Didnt mean to upset you.Nor others.So if you want the really grim truth on where we are headed do some research on what the Maya know.And go and listen to the haunting sound of the glaciers as they do Mother Natures dance.You will know that man is not the main cause of what we are about to bare witness.A contributer ? Yes.As for your insulting my intelligence it really doesnt bother me.I would expect no less from such a learned man as yourself.
Did anyone else notice? Commondreams did not post the news story about how the West Antarctica glaciers have begun to surge towards the ocean. Too doomy, I assume.
THROMRICK. Why wouldn’t posts such as yours, applauding trolls such as TIREBITER, not bother those who are very concerned about the global warming issue and the very likely release of ‘millions of tons’ of methane gas into our atmosphere?
Post your comments and have fun, but you are denying global warming exists and is caused by humanity And that my friend is very wrong and you should refrain from doing so, unless you have good scientific evidence to prove otherwise. If not, expect to be hammered with rude replys, for they are well deserved.
KEM..
Just curious…if the thermohaline circulation were to shut down, how would that affect the possibility of a major methane burp event?
Common Dreams is posting so many articles now, it is not possible to keep up with them. Many old time bloggers don’t even bother to come here anymore. Important lead articles are often buried in two days.
Yes INDEEPDHIITAKE, the Anarctic melt is very serious. There was a huge rift of over 400 miles in length last month, it’s far larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon. That icy water river, which flows out of Southern Antartica is as important to our climate as is the Atlantic’s Gulf Stream. Both are now altering their normal patterns and dramatic climate change is a very serious issue also.
I don’t know?
I see you may not be a troll ~Thromrick~ but why give trolls any credence? I find the ancient Mayan calander to be most interesting BTW and it indeed may be right on schedule.
That does not mean we have to accept it. Is that calendar a warning, or a prophecy? We must attempt to alter global warming, by converting to clean energy and then develop clean running vehicles. However, I am pretty sure we won’t.
I wrote I don’t konw INDEEPSTUFF, but I can guess. The methane hydrates in the ocean’s sea beds are stable, due to cold water AND pressure. If either is eleminated, they may begin to come alive. There is a difference in the methane hydrates locked up in the ocean’s beds and that in the Arctic tundra. Once it becomes gasious, it is just as harmful in the atmosphere however.
So if the cold water river which has been flowing from the Anarctic for millions of years were to stop, or change course in the Pacific, it MAY allow methane gas to release into our atmosphere and it MAY also enhance warming of the Arctic. But that’s just a layman’s guess on my part.
I also am unfamiliar with the term, “thermohaline circulation”. I am aware of the two very important rivers which flow in the Pacific and the Atlantic. One is cold and the other is warm. They both have a major influence on our normal climate patterns.
KEM…I believe that I answered my own question…see link. At this point, it is uncertain if global warming will cause a shutdown of the thermohaline circulation and how that will affect global temperatures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutdown_of_thermohaline_circulation
Hey thank you kindly for that link ~InDEEP~.____ Dudu?
I see they were cautious to use the words “perhaps and may” and with ample justification. The latest date I saw there was 2006 and at that time, the general consensus of many top rated scientists, was global warming was a very long term problem. Now they are flabbergasted at the rate of ice melts all over the world.
Also, the Gulf stream has altered during the past year and what they presumed may occur is now occurring weather-wise in northern Europe. If it will have an effect on the Arctic methane? I would guess that indeed it will. Which way? I dont know. ___ Why wouldn’t it have an effect?
The Mayan calander is not a prophecy at all.An argument can be made that it was a warning.But it is a simple calander.Nothing more ,nothing less.A brilliant,absolutely stunning feat considering when it was made.And it ends on the day it ends for a good reason.Other calanders that have been unearthed elsewhere around the globe tell the same thing.We really need not waste our time and efforts into a halfhearted attempt to right the wrongs we have done to our planet.We should each be getting to know our neighbors and mend any broken fences on the family side of things.Each of us will need all the strength that we can muster to make it through the coming trials and tribulations ahead.
I have a simple calander that is nothng more or less, just a calander, that ends on December 31, 2008. Omnious? Mine came from my insurance agent.