Proponents of the Sue Big Oil movement got a ‘wait and see’ message from Sunshine Coast Regional District directors at a Nov. 16 electoral services committee meeting.
Date: Monday, November 20, 2023
Complete Article: Coast Reporter
Here’s an update that’s close to home! The Sunshine Coast Sue Big Oil team presented to the SCRD, asking the regional district to join the lawsuit.
Excerpt:
Committee chair and Area E director Donna McMahon indicated she had read three legal opinions on regional district’s participation in the proposed class action lawsuit. Those, she said ranged from “yes, to no, to maybe.” While support was voiced by a number of directors for seeing major fossil fuel companies be held responsible for costs of damage to local government infrastructure caused by climate change, no recommendation to join the action was made.
Proponent Andrew Gage, from West Coast Environmental Law, stated that he had recently presented the call to participate in the action to BC’s Capital Regional District (CRD). At its committee level, that jurisdiction expressed similar concerns and has requested its staff to investigate the matter and report back before they consider signing on, he stated.
SCRD directors asked, and their chief administrative officer Dean McKinley agreed, that local staff could reach out to counterparts in the CRD and request access to the details on regional district participation that result from their investigations. After considering that, SCRD staff would report back and make recommendations to the committee.
“The CRD has a bigger team and more horsepower than we do,” McKinley stated.