Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Exxon’s Case to Stop Climate Lawsuits
Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy appeal a lawsuit seeking to hold them accountable for their contributions to climate change.
The lawsuit, originally filed by the city of Boulder, Colorado, and Boulder County, claimed that aggressive advertising and sales of fossil fuels by Exxon and Suncor were responsible for high temperatures and more frequent wildfires. They also argued that the two companies were thus violating consumer protection law. In a ruling last May, the Supreme Court allowed the lawsuit to move forward in state court. The oil companies appealing the decision are not arguing that they are not contributing to climate change, but that the problem is a federal, not a state, issue.
The move comes just days after President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency decision. revoked the 2009 Threat Finding that determined that greenhouse gases pose a real risk to public health that could be addressed through the Clean Air Act, effectively crippling the administration’s regulatory power.
