The city of Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz County announced Wednesday the filing of separate lawsuits in state court against 29 oil, gas and coal companies seeking damages related to the companies’ impact on global climate change. The jurisdictions will join the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, the counties of Marin and San Mateo, and San Diego County’s city of Imperial Beach in filing lawsuits to hold specific fossil fuel companies accountable for contributing to more frequent crises like wildfires, droughts and strong storms. The Santa Cruz County and city officials believe that the defendants have been aware of their role in extensive pollution for nearly 50 years. The city of Santa Cruz’s final complaint document states, “Defendants’ historical and current fossil fuel extraction and production records are publicly available in various fora. These include university and public library collections, company websites, company […]