The Mayor and City Council of Atlantic City, New Jersey, recently became the latest municipal officials to formally call for the Garden State to take fossil fuel companies to court to recover the spiraling costs of rising seas, flooding, severe weather, and other climate damages caused and made worse by the industry’s products.
In a 7-0 vote, the city officials passed a resolution that urges Governor Phil Murphy “to take legal action against the fossil fuel industry for their role in creating and perpetuating the climate crisis to ensure that the cost of adaptation and resilience does not fall solely on the shoulders of taxpayers.”
Since last year, two New Jersey counties, three boroughs, and the state League of Municipalities have passed similar resolutions urging action, and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers advanced their own resolution that calls on New Jersey to join the growing number of states and municipalities — including Hoboken, New Jersey — that have filed lawsuits to hold oil and gas companies accountable for the costs.
“Fossil fuel companies have knowingly produced, marketed, promoted, and sold fossil fuels over the last 50 years despite their contribution to global warming, without protecting or warning consumers about the dangers, and have spent millions of dollars on campaigns to obscure the truth to protect their assets,” the resolution notes.
For coastal Atlantic City, the costs of this climate deception on local infrastructure are particularly severe. Sea levels have increased more than 15 inches over the last century, according to the resolution, and A.C. has one of the highest rate increases of coastal flooding in the nation. The state has estimated that raising just one stretch of road that passes through the city to prevent chronic flooding will cost at least $22 million, and in 2019, a CCI study estimated that the city faces the highest costs in the state to protect against rising seas: $365 million by 2040.
State officials have warned New Jersey municipalities to factor these costs into local budgets and not expect additional climate resilience funding from the state or federal government. But vulnerable communities like those in Atlantic City often lack the resources needed to fund resilience measures, meaning they will ultimately pay the price for climate damages caused by billion-dollar corporate polluters.
“Low-income families and public housing developments in the City of Atlantic City are most exposed to these threats, yet often go without access to the resources necessary in order to adapt, recover, and build resilience,” the resolution states.
Earlier this month, CCI Legal Director Alyssa Johl and Pay Up Climate Polluters NJ Campaign Director Lauren O’Brien joined Atlantic City Councilmember Kaleem Shabazz to discuss climate accountability on the local “NAACP Speaks” radio program. Listen to their conversation here.