The decision allows fossil fuel damage claims to be pursued at the state level.
QUICK FACTS:
- The United States Supreme Court declined to hear several appeals from fossil fuel companies seeking to move so-called “climate change” lawsuits from the state level to the federal level.
- ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Shell Oil Products were several of the companies arguing that greenhouse gas emissions are “inherently federal.”
- The companies wanted the lawsuits to be decided in federal courts to create a precedent for future responses.
- The companies stated that some appellate courts have sided with the industry, claiming that climate change damages belong in federal court.
- Other courts held that the Clean Air Act allows state governments to decide pollution cases.
- Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. did not take part in the refusal to hear the appeals, whereas Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh would have reviewed the case.
- Further details as to why the Supreme Court rejected the appeals are unknown.
REACTIONS TO THE SUPREME COURT’S DECISION:
- The lawyer for Chevron, Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., stated, “We are confident the pending climate lawsuits in the U.S. will ultimately be dismissed,” adding that climate change is “an issue of national and global magnitude that requires a coordinated federal policy response, not a disjointed patchwork of lawsuits in state courts across multiple states.”
- “These wasteful lawsuits in state courts will do nothing to advance global climate solutions, nothing to reduce emissions, and nothing to address climate-related impacts,” Boutrous continued.
- The same was reiterated by John Masslon, senior counsel at the Washington Legal Foundation, who noted, “The Supreme Court will eventually have to resolve the circuit split on this critical issue. Kicking the can down the road will just help pad the bank accounts of lawyers at consumers’ expense.”
- Lead scientist at the Science Hub for Climate Litigation at the Union of Concerned Scientists Delta Merner said the cities involved in the lawsuits have experienced “unimaginable losses” due to the “recklessness and greed of the fossil fuel industry.”
- “ExxonMobil, Suncor, Chevron, Shell, and other fossil fuel companies have known for decades that heat-trapping emissions from their operations and the use of their products drive climate change and its impacts, but they have continued to deceive the public and obstruct meaningful action,” Merner added. “The decision sends a powerful message to fossil fuel companies: Evading responsibility will not be tolerated.”
BACKGROUND:
- Biden is set to sign an executive order creating the Office of Environmental Justice within the White House “Council on Environmental Quality.”
- “The Executive Order recognizes this reality and that racism is a fundamental driver of environmental injustice,” according to the announcement for the order. “It directs agencies to actively facilitate meaningful public participation and just treatment of all people in agency decision-making.”
- The move comes as surveys indicate that climate change skepticism is increasing globally.
