Supreme Court to weigh bid by energy companies to end state-court climate change suits

Washington- The Supreme Court agreed Monday to take up energy companies’ efforts to end a state court lawsuit that seeks billions of dollars in damages over the impacts of their fossil fuel products on the global climate.

The Supreme Court’s decision could impact the ability of state and local governments to hold oil and gas companies accountable in state courts for the consequences of climate change. Dozens of cities and counties have filed similar complaints across the country, but judges have been unsuccessful. denied similar disputes which have landed before them.

The court will likely hear arguments during its next term, which begins in October.

The legal battle was brought by the city of Boulder, Colorado, and Boulder County against Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil Corporation in state court in 2018. Local officials argued that the companies, which produce and sell fossil fuels, were contributing to climate change, which in turn was harming Colorado.

Boulder officials alleged in their lawsuit that the “uncontrolled production, promotion, refining, marketing and sale of fossil fuels” around the world had led to “uncontrolled use of fossil fuels” and an increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, which then warmed the planet. The effects of climate change, they said, have led Boulder to experience more extreme weather events, including heat waves, wildfires, droughts and floods.

The city claimed the energy companies violated state law, in part, because they altered the climate by selling fossil fuels at levels they knew would “bring widespread catastrophic harm to Colorado.” The suit sought billions of dollars in damages.

The oil and gas companies attempted to take the matter to Federal Court. The dispute ended up before the Supreme Court, which refused in 2023 to hear the case.

The energy companies then unsuccessfully attempted to have the suit dismissed in state court, arguing in part that the Clean Air Act negated state law’s claims for relief for damages allegedly caused by the effects of international greenhouse gas emissions on the global climate. The Colorado Supreme Court upheld the district court’s decision allowing the Boulder lawsuit last May.

In urging the Supreme Court to intervene, lawyers for the energy companies argued in a filing that state and local entities are devoting “enormous resources” to pursuing legal action against them. They said allowing disputes to go to state court could mean the industry would be forced to pay billions of dollars in damages.

“In these cases, state and local governments are attempting to assert control over the nation’s energy policies by holding energy companies accountable for global behaviors in ways that are entirely in conflict with our constitutional structure, as well as the policies and priorities of the federal government,” the energy companies argued. “This runs counter to the Court’s precedents and fundamental principles of federalism.”

The Trump administration supports ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy. Deputy Attorney General Sarah Harris wrote in a filing that the case raised a question of “great national importance,” and warned that if the Boulder trial were allowed to proceed, every locality in the country could sue “essentially anyone in the world for contributing to global climate change.”

Boulder’s claims, Harris writes, “seek to hold petitioners accountable for all of their fossil fuel-related activities, anywhere in the world, thereby extending the reach of Colorado common law well beyond Colorado’s territorial limits.”

Lawyers for Boulder officials argued it was too early for the Supreme Court to intervene. They said in a filing that the city and county want energy companies to “share some of the financial burden their communities face in dealing with climate change caused in part by” their behavior.

Beyond the lawsuit filed by Boulder and the surrounding county, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal of 15 energy companies who last year sought to dismiss lawsuits filed by Honolulu officials in Hawaii state court, clearing the way for the case to continue.

The High Court also refused an offer by Republican-led states to block lawsuits brought by Democratic-led states that sought to hold the energy industry accountable for allegedly misleading the public about the dangers of their fossil fuel products.