Editor:
I would like to correct a misunderstanding about the Sue Big Oil campaign (http://scsbo.ca/).
A recent letter to the Coast Reporter suggested that anyone who supports the campaign is a hypocrite unless they make no use of oil. The campaign acknowledges that all of us contribute to climate-related damage, and through increases in municipal taxes, we pay for those damages.
What the campaign seeks is a fair contribution from the oil companies for their contribution to the damages.
For decades, the oil companies have known about the environmental degradation they cause.
While the petroleum industry reports daily profits in the millions, citizens in B.C. towns and cities are paying for the costs of fires, floods, drought, and other climate-related disaster.
Many of us would like to see a just transition away from fossil fuels to greener energy sources - a transition that protects workers, Indigenous peoples, and the environment - but the Sue Big Oil campaign has a more immediate goal: make the petroleum industry pay for its share in the damage cause by climate change.
Anthony Paré
Gibsons
