• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Wind and Solar Cheaper than Gas Plants in Ontario and Alberta, Study Shows February 7, 2023
AI Predicts World Over 1.5°C Limit by 2030, Undercuts Climate Progress Reports February 7, 2023
February Brings Record Cold, Widespread Power Outages to Much of North America February 7, 2023
Solar Geoengineering Banned in Mexico After ‘Rogue’ Stunt February 7, 2023
Lithium Mine Divides Nemaska Cree Over Impacts, Benefits February 7, 2023
Next
Prev

U.S. Crab Fishers Sue 30 Fossil Companies for Impacts of Ocean Warming

November 19, 2018
Reading time: 3 minutes

Erik Swanson/U.S. Coast Guard

Erik Swanson/U.S. Coast Guard

13
SHARES
 

The biggest commercial fishing association on the U.S. west coast filed a lawsuit last week against 30 major fossil companies, including Calgary-based Encana Corporation, in a bid to hold them accountable for “significant economic losses” due to ocean warming off California and Oregon.

“We’re taking a stand for the captains and crew, their families, and the business owners that support the fleet,” said Noah Oppenheim, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “The fossil fuel companies named in our lawsuit knowingly caused harm, and they need to be held accountable.”

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

“We just about can’t make a living fishing crabs anymore,” said fourth-generation crab fisherman John Beardon, who has seen his earnings fall by half in recent years. “I’d like to see the industry that caused this take responsibility for that.”

“The association said the suit is a response to four consecutive years of the crab fishery being forced to close because of algae blooms, which are caused by warming oceans,” Climate Liability News reports. The crabbers “are seeking to hold fossil fuel companies accountable, arguing that the companies have long known that fossil fuel combustion would lead to warming of the oceans and atmosphere.”

Alongside Encana, the PCFFA is targeting colossal fossils like Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell, invoking “claims of nuisance, negligence, product liability, and failure to warn” under California state law, CLN states. The association says the Dungeness crab industry employs thousands of people, on the boats and in coastal communities, and contributes hundreds of millions of dollars per year to the California and Oregon economies.

“The severe curtailment of the crab fishery, which is among the most productive, lucrative, and reliable fisheries on the West Coast, had damaging ripple effects throughout California’s and Oregon’s fishing families and communities, creating severe hardships that many fishermen and fishing businesses, including Plaintiff’s members, have struggled to overcome,” the PCFFA says in its complaint.

“Defendants have known for nearly 50 years that greenhouse gas pollution from their fossil fuel products has a significant impact on Earth’s climate, including a warming of the oceans,” the suit adds. Yet “defendants concealed the dangers, sought to undermine public support for greenhouse gas regulation, and engaged in massive campaigns to promote the ever-increasing use of their products at ever greater volumes.”

In addition to compensation, the suit demands that the fossils “pay for additional measures that will help mitigate future impacts,” Oppenheim said. “Those costs should not fall on the shoulders of hard-working fishermen.”

At least one legal observer said the crabbers have a promising case.

“I think the evidence that the crab industry is suffering serious economic harm as the result of rising ocean temperatures caused by greenhouse gas emissions is really powerful, and may be especially compelling to more conservative judges,” said environmental law professor Ann Carlson, co-director of UCLA’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. “The new lawsuit puts a human face on the consequences of climate change and makes those consequences less abstract than losses a government has or will experience. That isn’t to say that harms to municipalities and states aren’t real, with real human victims. But the new lawsuit personalizes the harms in a way that may be very persuasive to a court.”

“The dominoes keep falling. The collapse of Dungeness crab fishery along the California and Oregon coasts is yet another casualty of global warming caused by carbon pollution from oil companies that knew of the danger and acted with callous indifference to the consequences of their actions,” added Vermont Law School professor Patrick Parenteau.



in Biodiversity & Habitat, Cities & Communities, Energy / Carbon Pricing & Economics, Food Security & Agriculture, Heat & Temperature, Jobs & Training, Legal & Regulatory, Oceans, Oil & Gas, Sub-National Governments, United States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Peoplepoweredbyenergy/Wikimedia Commons
Ending Emissions

Wind and Solar Cheaper than Gas Plants in Ontario and Alberta, Study Shows

February 7, 2023
529
The hottest summer days in a typical New York City year are now about 11 times more frequent than in the 19th century. Image: Andreas Komodromos via Flickr
Carbon Levels & Measurement

AI Predicts World Over 1.5°C Limit by 2030, Undercuts Climate Progress Reports

February 7, 2023
99
Andre Carrotflower/wikimedia commons
Severe Storms & Flooding

February Brings Record Cold, Widespread Power Outages to Much of North America

February 7, 2023
56

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Peoplepoweredbyenergy/Wikimedia Commons

Wind and Solar Cheaper than Gas Plants in Ontario and Alberta, Study Shows

February 7, 2023
529
Government of Alberta/flickr

University of Calgary Suspends Admissions for Oil and Gas Engineering Program

July 12, 2021
391
Beckyq6937/Wikimedia Commons

Solar Geoengineering Banned in Mexico After ‘Rogue’ Stunt

February 7, 2023
159
Peter Broster/wikimedia commons

Ottawa Mulls Higher-Speed Trains on Busy Toronto-Quebec City Corridor

February 7, 2023
117
Brian Robert Marshall/Geograph

Canada’s Solid Renewables Growth Falls Short of Net-Zero Ambitions

February 7, 2023
98
Michael E. Brunk/flickr

Green Building ‘Heroes’, Climate Contrarian ‘Zombies’, Shell Lawsuits, and ‘Sponge Cities’ to Solve Flooding

February 7, 2023
124

Recent Posts

The hottest summer days in a typical New York City year are now about 11 times more frequent than in the 19th century. Image: Andreas Komodromos via Flickr

AI Predicts World Over 1.5°C Limit by 2030, Undercuts Climate Progress Reports

February 7, 2023
99
Andre Carrotflower/wikimedia commons

February Brings Record Cold, Widespread Power Outages to Much of North America

February 7, 2023
56
Nemaska Lithium/Facebook

Lithium Mine Divides Nemaska Cree Over Impacts, Benefits

February 7, 2023
42
Mike Mozart/Flickr

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

February 4, 2023
372
Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
219
CONFENIAE

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
85
Next Post
Brian Young/350 Toronto (and Jasper)

Extinction Rebellion Brings Out 6,000 Protesters, Blocks Five Bridges in Central London

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}