Alaskan village sues major oil firms

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- An Alaskan village is suing 24 major energy firms including ExxonMobil and BP over charges that greenhouse gases they emit threaten its existence.

The village of Kivalina, home to Inupiat Eskimos and located in the Arctic Circle, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco alleging the village faced imminent destruction from global warming because of greenhouse gas emissions by the firms. The lawsuit says climate change has caused the melting of sea ice that used to protect Kivalina from coastal storms during the fall and winter. It said the diminished sea ice caused massive erosion problem that urgently requires the village be relocated.

The lawsuit was filed by the Native Village of Kivalina, a federally recognized Indian Tribe, and the City of Kivalina, an Alaskan municipality, on their own behalves and on the behalf of members of the tribe. Defendants include ExxonMobil Corp., Peabody Energy Corp., Southern Co., American Electric Power Co., Duke Energy Co, Chevron Corp. and Shell Oil Co.

The suit invokes the federal common law of public nuisance and claims damages due to the defendants' alleged contributions to climate change. It also alleges a conspiracy by some of the defendants to mislead the public over the causes and consequences of global warming.

"The campaign of deception and denial about global warming must stop," Colleen Swan, tribal administrator of the Native Village of Kivalina, said in a statement. "Global warming and its effects are a reality we have to deal with. Peoples' lives are in danger because of it."

Outside experts, including the Government Accountability Office, have said Kivalina is directly affected by climate change and relocating it could cost $400 million or more.