The City of New Westminster, British Columbia, is considering joining the “Sue Big Oil” class action lawsuit, which targets fossil fuel companies for their alleged role in climate change.

Councillor Tasha Henderson is pushing this motion forward, asking city staff to explore the cost and resources required for New Westminster to participate. The proposal comes on the heels of similar efforts by a handful of municipalities desperate to shift blame onto the oil and gas industry.

The class action lawsuit, joined by more than 20 municipalities globally, including nine local governments in B.C., aims to hold fossil fuel companies financially accountable for climate-related damages, such as wildfires and flooding and the cost of implementing mitigation efforts. 

Henderson’s motion states that: 

the City of New Westminster manages, maintains, and prepares municipal infrastructure to protect our residents from future heat waves, wildfires, flooding, and other climate impacts, thereby safeguarding the health and safety of our residents and their property and as a result faces massive costs due to climate change, which are expected to increase.

It said it is “unacceptable” that local governments and taxpayers bear the full extent of these climate costs whilst multinational fossil fuel companies take no financial responsibility for the harm caused by their products.

Activists like Andrew Murray, a longtime environmentalist and member of the Council of Canadians, are pushing this lawsuit as if it will solve climate issues.

Murray claims it's only going to cost New Westminster residents “$1 per citizen” to join the lawsuit, arguing, “by joining this class action lawsuit, you take that critical first step,” he said.

“We have to ask ourselves — we got off lucky this summer — how many towns are we going to sit and watch burn to the ground? How many hundreds of people will lose their homes? … Be courageous: Vote yes for this motion.”

Murray is also a member of Frack Free BC. The province is not frack-free, however, with thousands of gas wells brought into production using hydraulic fracturing since the technology's first use in the 1950s in B.C.

The motion is currently in the “notice of motion” stage and will be argued at next council meeting, on October 7.

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