At the end of April 2023 the Supreme Court rejected ExxonMobil and Suncor’s petition for certiorari seeking to force three Colorado communities — who sued the companies for their role in the climate crisis and the local impacts the communities suffer — into federal court. The result of the Supreme Court’s denial is that the cases brought by Boulder County, San Miguel County, and the City of Boulder will proceed in Colorado state court.
On 15 May 2023 The Supreme Court also rejected a similar petition for certiorari in Delaware v BP America. The order also sends a similar case against fossil fuel companies filed by the City of Hoboken, NJ, back to New Jersey state court.
The oil company defendants had hoped that the cases would be remitted to the Federal Courts where it is likely that they would be dismissed due the decision of the Supreme Court in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, 131 S. Ct. 2527 (2011) (AEP), and that of the Ninth Circuit in Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp., 696 F.3d 849 (9th Cir. 2012), that such actions, at least when they relate to domestic GHG emissions caused by the defendant, are pre-empted by the Clean Air Act.
Meanwhile the trial in the Montana State courts in Held v Montana has been scheduled for 12-23 June. Youth plaintiffs are seeking declaratory relief alleging that by supporting a fossil fuel-driven energy system, which is contributing to the climate crisis, Montana is violating their constitutional rights to a clean and healthful environment; to seek safety, health, and happiness; and to individual dignity and equal protection of the law. The youth plaintiffs also argue that the state’s fossil fuel energy system is degrading and depleting Montana’s constitutionally protected public trust resources, including the atmosphere, rivers and lakes, and fish and wildlife.
