This debate will undoubtedly be shaken up by the #Trump #EPA’s recent killing of the #EndangermentFinding. That scientific finding by the agency was the foundation of federal #GreenhouseGas #regulations. #SCOTUS has previously ruled that the EPA’s role managing those regulations blocked many federal lawsuits over harms from #ClimateChange. Some legal experts say the end of the endangerment finding opens up a new lane for lawsuits against the #FossilFuel industry in federal court.
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#SCOTUS announced Monday that it had agreed to hear a major #climate lawsuit in which the #oil industry is claiming it shouldn’t be sued in #state courts over its role in #GlobalWarming. The outcome could have wide bearing on dozens of other lawsuits around the country.
The court said it would hear arguments on a petition by #ExxonMobil & #Suncor, a Canadian #energy giant, in a lawsuit brought by the city & county of #Boulder, Colorado.
The suit, first filed in 2018, sought to hold the companies liable for the effects of #ClimateChange, citing state laws.
About three dozen similar lawsuits have been filed in the #US by #state, #local & #tribal governments in the past decade. They generally seek monetary damages for costs that municipalities are incurring because of #climate change. Many also make consumer #fraud claims, arguing the companies covered up what they knew about the risks of using their products.
Some have been dismissed, while others have been allowed to advance in the courts. None have made it to trial yet.
In #Colorado, as they have elsewhere, the companies tried to move the matter to #FederalCourt, arguing that the complex issue of global #GreenhouseGas #emissions must be addressed under #federal, not #state, #law. A federal judge denied that request in 2019, & the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision.
#SCOTUS #law #EnvironmentalLaw #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis
The companies asked #SCOTUS to step in then, but [when there was a more balanced court] the justices declined. (The Supreme Court had also declined to hear several similar petitions over the years.)
But that changed amid a vigorous push by the #oil industry & the #Trump admin to shut down #climate lawsuits nationwide. They argue that the specter of billions of dollars in damages could destroy the US #energy sector🎻.
The #Trump #DOJ sued #Hawaii & #Michigan in a bid to stop those #states from filing #climate lawsuits, & industry allies have redoubled their efforts to get the courts & lawmakers to block the cases. The conservative legal scholar John Yoo, who submitted an amicus brief in the #Boulder case, wrote in a recent essay that the justices must “end environmental extortion of American energy.” [ummm, what now? If they knowingly harmed the public, the public has a right to sue for damages TYVM.]
#States have not been deterred. #Hawaii filed its lawsuit almost immediately after the #DOJ suit. And #Michigan recently filed a federal #antitrust lawsuit against 4 #oil companies & the American Petroleum Institute [ #API], the oil industry’s main trade group.
The petition before #SCOTUS in the #Boulder case hinges on the question of whether #federal law “precludes #state-law claims seeking relief for injuries allegedly caused” by #GreenhouseGas #emissions.
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