San Francisco and Oakland city attorneys announce lawsuits against major fossil-fuel companies seeking abatement funds for sea-level rise costs

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, joined by Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker and staff from both offices, announced coordinated civil actions against five major investor-owned fossil-fuel companies, seeking court orders and damages to pay for infrastructure and adaptation costs related to sea-level rise and climate change.

Herrera said the suits name Chevron, Exxon, BP, Shell and ConocoPhillips and allege those companies created a public nuisance through massive fossil-fuel production and by misleading the public about the health of their products and the risks of climate change. He described scientific evidence and internal industry documents dating back decades as the basis for alleging the companies knew about climate risks yet continued to promote fossil-fuel use.

Parker framed the litigation as an effort to make the companies pay for the infrastructure cities will need to adapt to sea-level rise and other impacts. The attorneys cited estimates of public- and private-property exposure and potential abatement costs, and compared the defendants' conduct to historical misinformation campaigns by tobacco companies. "Our future, unfortunately, is dire," Parker said, arguing the defendants have engaged in widespread deception and should be liable under California nuisance law.

City attorneys said the suits seek remedies such as abatement funds and that litigation will be pursued aggressively with outside counsel. Herrera noted that litigation outcomes take time but said the legal theory is straightforward under state nuisance law and cited prior local lead-paint cases as precedent for joint liability and funding of remediation.

The announcement included technical background on climate science (sea-level rise projections, recent heat waves) and local vulnerability analysis for San Francisco Bay Area infrastructure. The city attorneys took questions from the media on timing and legal strategy; officials declined to give a definitive length of time for resolution and said litigation would proceed as aggressively as resources and counsel allow.