Dear City Attorney Holmes

U.S cities like New York and Los Angeles, U.S counties like King County, Peruvian farmers, crab fishermen and young people, all have one thing in common: They are suing the oil industry for causing the devastating impacts of global warming.

We call upon you to file claims against the fossil fuel corporations that have profited from the production and sale of fossil fuels, while knowing that the their product was causing global warming ― and lying to the public about that salient fact.

Washington State is already feeling the impacts of climate change: The Quinault Nation has been forced to relocate two villages because of rising sea levels. Over 50% of our Columbia River salmon have died in overheated rivers in recent years. Record-breaking wildfires have scorched our lands, burned our homes, and killed people. Drought has cost our state hundreds of millions of dollars over the last few years alone. Our snow packs have plummeted, resulting in more water pollution, less drinking water, and less hydroelectric capacity, while also costing the ski industry millions. Our forests are threatened by the pine bark beetle, which thrives in warmer temperatures.

Globally, climate change has the most devastating impact on the nations of the Global South; nations that have done the least to contribute to global warming and that have benefited the least from carbon-intensive development. Domestically, the impacts of climate change are falling most heavily on communities of color, low-income communities, and Indigenous communities, which again have done the least to cause the problem and benefited the least from carbon-intensive development. For example, by 2100, Squaxin Island, home of the Squaxin Island Tribe, will be inundated by sea-level rise. These lands, disappearing under the ocean, are central to the Tribe’s natural resources-based economy and culture. In this, global warming, caused by an extension of the attempted genocide of Indigenous people.

Climate change also takes a huge economic toll ― and like the rest of the country and the planet, Seattle will be impacted by the economic costs of climate change.

According to analysis by Zillow, drawing on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data, 0.9% of Seattle’s current housing stock (1,663 homes), worth $2.3B, will be inundated by sea-level rise by 2100. The City’s Office of Sustainability and Environment has also reported that more storm surges and floods, as well as decreased hydro-electric capacity—all impacts of global warming—will carry heavy costs to the city.

Fossil fuel companies have caused this problem. Just the five fossil fuel companies targeted by New York City’s lawsuit are collectively responsible for approximately 11% of all human-caused greenhouse gas pollution. These are the same companies that knew for decades that their product was causing major climate destabilization, yet rather than inform the public, they chose to spend tens of millions of dollars deceiving the public about the reality of climate science. This has been well-documented in investigative journalism carried out by InsideClimateNews, the Los Angeles Times and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, which found that ExxonMobil executives have known that burning fossil fuels would warm the climate since at least the 1970’s.

The fossil fuel industry must be held accountable.

I urge you to file claims against the fossil fuel industry, and do everything within your power to make these companies pay for their crimes.

Yours sincerely,