Conservative justices ask sharp questions of Colorado city suing oil companies over climate change impacts
By John Fritze, CNN
(CNN) — A Colorado city that is attempting to sue two major oil companies for damages caused by climate change faced sharp questions from the Supreme Court on Monday, with several conservative justices concerned about the implications of letting local governments wade into an issue that the fossil fuel industry argued should be a federal concern.
“It’s going to bankrupt — if there are enough of these — bankrupt these various defendants and certainly other defendants out there,” said Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative who was among the most clearly opposed to the damages lawsuit from the city and county of Boulder. “Anyone is a potential defendant for a suit like this.”
The two companies involved in the suit, ExxonMobil and Canada-based Suncor, also faced difficult questions, especially from the court’s three-justice liberal wing and Chief Justice John Roberts, also a conservative.
That made it difficult to predict precisely how the court would rule, especially since another conservative, Justice Samuel Alito, recused himself from the case, opening the possibility of a 4-4 split that would, by default, uphold a Colorado court decision that sided with Boulder but set no precedent.
How the Supreme Court resolves the case will have nationwide implications because dozens of other lawsuits are already pending in which other cities and states have sued oil companies for climate change. Roberts seemed particularly concerned that “at least 50” more different cities might file follow-on lawsuits against the industry if Boulder wins the case.
“How do you think that will work out on the ground?” Roberts said, who at one point suggested that Boulder’s approach was simply an attempt to “evade” prior Supreme Court decisions.
This is the most important climate change case to reach the court’s docket in years. Boulder is attempting to recover the cost of repairing infrastructure and providing access to public health services following fires and floods. Boulder argues the companies not only contributed to climate change but also misled the public about the role fossil fuels played in climate change.
Dozens of cities and states have filed similar lawsuits against oil companies, which warn the litigation amounts to a carbon tax that could ultimately bankrupt the energy industry.
It is the first case the court heard in a new term that beginning Monday that features disputes over AR-15 bans, religious schools and voting. A decision is expected by June.
Boulder claims that it is exercising inherent state police powers to protect the health and safety of its residents, and that the practice is not novel. Dozens of states sued the largest tobacco companies in the 1990s seeking damages and alleging deceptive practices — litigation that led to a massive settlement.
“This litigation is not an attempt to solve climate change,” Boulder said in court papers. “It merely asks that petitioners bear their fair share of local costs incurred in part because of their tortious conduct.”
Exxon and Suncor say it has long been understood that greenhouse gas emissions are inherently an interstate challenge and that those principles effectively preempt state tort laws.
“As this court has consistently recognized, resorting to a single state’s law to resolve an inherently interstate dispute contradicts the basic scheme of the Constitution,” the energy companies said in court filings.
The-CNN-Wire
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