As Los Angeles’s deadly wildfires continue to burn, a group of survivors is taking aim at the industry most responsible for fueling climate disasters: fossil fuels.
Residents impacted by the blazes lamented during a Thursday conference call losing their homes and communities and called for litigation and policies that could force big oil to pay for the damages. In the coming days, lawmakers will introduce legislation with that aim in mind.
“It is hard to properly express how much was lost,” said Danielle Havanas, whose home was destroyed by the Palisades fire last week. “How do you communicate the value of your deceased mom’s journal from 1981 when she was pregnant with you?”
Scientists are still working to determine the degree to which the climate crisis exacerbated the ongoing Los Angeles fires, but existing research makes clear that global heating creates the conditions for more severe and frequent fires. And UCLA climate scientists this week determined that the climate crisis was likely responsible for a quarter of the dryness that fueled the fires’ rapid spread.
Sam James, of the Altadena neighborhood, which was ravaged by this month’s Eaton fire, said her grandfather’s home was lost in the disaster. The region saw many Black families to begin building generational wealth for the first time, but the fire wiped out much of that progress, James said.
Communities are struggling to rebuild. But “it should not continuously fall in us to address the consequences of big oil’s negligence,” James said.
“They must take responsibility for the harm that they’ve caused, pay reparations to the affected communities who lost their homes and businesses, and take immediate steps to mitigate further damage,” she said.
There is mounting evidence that big oil knew for decades that their products fuel the climate crisis, yet continued to peddle them to the public anyway and sow doubt about global heating.
Cities and states, including California, have filed litigation aimed at holding oil companies accountable for this alleged disinformation campaign and force them to pay damages.
Vermont and New York recently passed “climate superfund” bills requiring oil majors to fund climate action.
California considered a similar bill last year. Lawmakers will introduce a new version in the coming days, said Clara Vondrich, senior policy counsel at the consumer advocacy non-profit Public Citizen, which convened on Thursday’s call.
“We’re already paying for big oil’s climate destruction, not just with money, but with our lives, so that’s why we need our own climate superfund bill,” she said.
Aaron Regunberg, a director at Public Citizen, described another scheme to hold big oil accountable for climate deception: bringing criminal charges. The idea has won interest from public officials and prosecutors, the Guardian reported last year.
Local litigation and policies will be particularly important amid former Donald Trump’s second term, Regunberg said.
“Donald Trump has made very clear that his allegiance is to big oil,” he said.
On Thursday, climate activists with the youth-led group the Sunrise Movement also held a protest at an oil facility owned by Phillips 66 calling for industry accountability.
“Fossil fuel CEOs are responsible for the destruction that is happening right now in Los Angeles,” said Simon Aron, an 18-year-old protester, said.
