(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Supreme Court Gives Big Oil a Win in Climate Fight With Cities [1]
['John Schwartz']
Date: 2021-05-17
The fossil fuel companies prefer the federal courts. That’s partly because state and federal laws typically treat cases like these, which depend on the common law of nuisance, differently. A unanimous 2011 Supreme Court decision said that, under federal law, the Clean Air Act displaced common law of nuisance, giving jurisdiction to the Environmental Protection Agency.
But plaintiffs like Baltimore have argued that state laws should take precedence. They may also see the local courts as a friendlier venue.
While the companies won the day, “it was a bullet dodged” for Baltimore, said Patrick Parenteau, an expert on environmental law at Vermont Law School. “The oil companies were looking for a kill shot,” he said, in which the justices would vote to throw the Baltimore case and the rest out, or at least use language in the decision that would send a message to the lower court that the cases would get a skeptical hearing at the Supreme Court level.
Instead, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s opinion focused on the narrow procedural issues.
Baltimore filed its suit in July 2018, arguing that the companies’ “production, promotion and marketing of fossil fuel products, simultaneous concealment of the known hazards of those products, and their championing of anti-science campaigns” harmed the city. The lawsuit noted that Baltimore “is particularly vulnerable to sea level rise and flooding,” and that it has spent “significant funds” to plan for and to deal with global warming. The case cited the cost of health-related issues associated with climate change, including increased rates of hospitalization in summer.
Appeals courts have traditionally been unable to review a decision sending cases to state court except in vary narrow exceptions. Courts are divided over how broad the review of such a decision can be.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/climate/supreme-court-baltimore-fossil-fuels.html
Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/
