A coalition of commercial fishers has filed a lawsuit in San Francisco that holds 30 fossil fuel firms, including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, accountable for losses to their industry resulting from climate change. Disaster relief approved by Congress in 2018 will aid crabbers who were harmed by the poor season three years ago, but it provides only partial relief for fishers like Beardon. The lawsuit refers to the closing of crab fishing waters within the last four years due to algae blooms in the warming Pacific. The case, which seeks damages on behalf of crab fishers and communities in California and Oregon, alleges that such closures will continue due to global warming. “Climate change is already causing significant damage to California’s coastal ecosystems,” said Michael Burger, executive director of the Pacific Legal Foundation, an environmental law firm based in Oakland, California.
A coalition of commercial fishers has filed a lawsuit in San Francisco that holds 30 fossil fuel firms, including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, accountable for losses to their industry resulting from climate change. The lawsuit refers to the closing of crab fishing waters within the last four years due to algae blooms in the warming Pacific. The case, which seeks damages on behalf of crab fishers and communities in California and Oregon, alleges that such closures will continue due to global warming. “Climate change is already causing significant damage to California’s coastal ecosystems,” said Michael Burger, executive director of the Pacific Legal Foundation, an environmental law firm based in Oakland, California.