US Supreme Court dismisses state climate lawsuits against oil companies
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid from 19 Republican-led state led by Alabama, to stop five Democratic-led state from pursuing lawsuits against major oil companies for deceiving public about the role that fossil fuels played in climate change.
The justices refused to hear a case filed directly at the Supreme Court by Republican attorneys general. This case targeted cases filed against Exxon Mobil and other companies such as Chevron, ConocoPhillips Shell, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips. These lawsuits were brought by California, Connecticut Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.
The Supreme Court hears appeals from lower courts in almost all cases. The Supreme Court has "original jurisdiction," however, in a few cases that pit states against each other.
In general, the suits filed by Democratic-led states seeking monetary damages accused the energy firms of creating a nuisance for the public or violating state law by hiding from the public the fact that burning fossils fuels will lead to climate changes. The companies denied any wrongdoing.
In the 2024 litigation, led by Republican Alabama Attorney general Steve Marshall, his counterparts from Alaska, Florida Georgia, Idaho, Iowa Kansas, Mississippi Missouri, Montana Nebraska New Hampshire, North Dakota Oklahoma, South Carolina South Dakota Utah West Virginia and Wyoming joined him.
They claimed that by suing energy companies and seeking damages to compensate for climate change harms, Democratic-led states tried to illegally regulate global emissions as well as the U.S. Energy System.
The Republican-led state argued that only the federal government has the authority to regulate interstate gas emission. "Wide-ranging injunctive relief, or catastrophic damages awards which could restructure our national energy system," were the Democratic-led state's requests.
The Supreme Court has a conservative majority of 6-3 and has rejected attempts by oil companies to dismiss or transfer climate change cases brought by local and state governments to federal courts.
The Supreme Court, for example, declined on Jan. 13, to hear an attempt by Sunoco and others oil companies to quash a suit by Honolulu following the Hawaii Supreme Court's decision to allow the climate change lawsuit to proceed.
In 2024, the administration of Democratic former president Joe Biden argued that both the Honolulu appeal by the industry and the lawsuit filed by 19 Republican-led States should be skipped.
The Republican administration of Donald Trump is expected to continue opposing such lawsuits. Trump's campaign pledged, ahead of the election in 2024, to "stop frivolous lawsuits from environmental extremists."
In a statement, Democratic-led states led by California Attorney Rob Bonta called the Republican case they brought against them, "meritless", and claimed it was based on a misunderstanding of their climate lawsuits.
The plaintiffs claimed that the lawsuits were not intended to hold oil companies responsible for their fossil fuel production in general, but rather to "address harms locally resulting from illegal deceptive behavior by private defendants."
(source: Reuters)
