Dozens of climate activists with the Sunrise Movement held a protest outside a Phillips 66 terminal in Los Angeles on Thursday. They demanded oil companies “pay up” for the wildfires and other climate catastrophes. Last year, oil and gas interests successfully campaigned to kill a California bill that would have forced polluters to help cover the cost of climate disasters.
It's clear: "Fossil fuel CEOs are responsible for the destruction that is happening right now in Los Angeles."
Big Oil Profits, LA burns.https://t.co/CmciCDZWuD
— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) January 17, 2025
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has blamed the fossil fuel industry for the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
The @SunriseMvmtLA occupation at Phillips 66 is still going strong.
Dozens camped out last night and aren't leaving until they get a meeting with Phillips 66's uber-rich CEO to talk about companies like Phillips paying to rebuild LA.
They caused the fires, they should pay. pic.twitter.com/iImzqEJVns
— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) January 17, 2025
InWednesday speech to the General Assembly, Guterres said, “Look no further than the hills of Los Angeles. It has gone from the home of disaster movies to a scene of disaster. Who pays the price for climate destruction around the world? Not the fossil fuel industry, pocketing profits and taxpayer subsidies as their products wreak havoc. Everyday people suffer.”
“Accountability is an existential threat to [Big Oil's] business model, and their business model is an existential threat to all of us, and that’s the bottom line.” https://t.co/sFsWH8ExAu
— Food & Water Watch (@foodandwater) January 16, 2025
The protest and Guterres’ remarks highlight growing global frustration with the fossil fuel industry’s role in climate change and its catastrophic consequences.
Activists demand accountability from oil giants
Activists increasingly call for substantial policy changes to hold these corporations accountable and fund recovery efforts for climate-induced disasters. As wildfires continue to devastate the Los Angeles area, there is a renewed push for California to adopt a “Climate Superfund” law.
These laws require energy companies to pay for the costs of dealing with extreme weather and climate change. Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity, said, “Taxpayers are shouldering 100 percent of the burden of climate-fueled disasters.” She noted that such legislation could relieve some of the financial strain on Californians. However, whether these new laws can survive expected legal challenges remains uncertain.
Last month, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute filed a lawsuit in federal court to block a similar state law. They argued that the law was unconstitutional and imposed “irrational and arbitrary punishment” based on flawed calculations. The new state laws are modeled after the federal Superfund program that has required companies to pay for cleaning up hazardous waste sites for decades.
Unlike the straightforward approach used for specific sites in the traditional Superfund program, the climate superfund laws aim to use emerging science to quantify economic losses attributable to climate change broadly and to determine which companies are most responsible. The debate over the responsibility of energy companies in climate-fueled disasters continues as communities like Los Angeles cope with the immediate impacts of wildfires.
Cameron is a highly regarded contributor in the rapidly evolving fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. His articles delve into the theoretical underpinnings of AI, the practical applications of machine learning across industries, ethical considerations of autonomous systems, and the societal impacts of these disruptive technologies.
