Alaskan villagers sue oil, power and coal companies

A TINY Alaskan village eroding into the Arctic Ocean is suing two dozen oil, power and coal companies, claiming that the large amounts of greenhouse gases they emit contribute to the global warming they say threatens the community’s existence.

The city of Kivalina and a federally recognised tribe, the Alaska Native village of Kivalina, yesterday launched action against nine oil companies, 14 power companies and one coal company in a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco.

Kivalina is a traditional Inupiat Eskimo village of about 390 people about 1,005km northwest of Anchorage.