Republican attorneys general in 19 states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block several Democratic-led states from filing lawsuits against the oil and gas industry in their own state courts.
The unusual request comes after dozens of states and local governments filed lawsuits alleging that fossil fuel companies misled the public about the risks of their products contributing to climate change. The lawsuits claim billions of dollars in damages from things like severe storms, wildfires and rising sea levels.
The Republican action is specifically aimed at halting lawsuits filed by California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island, although lawsuits have also been filed by other states, tribes, counties and cities.
GOP lawyers argue that only the federal government can regulate interstate gas emissions, and that states do not have the power to apply their own laws to a global atmosphere that extends far beyond their borders. The court also alleges that the climate-related lawsuits could drive up energy costs in other states, including for electricity generated from natural gas.
“They do not have the authority to dictate our national energy policy,” Alabama’s attorney general said Steve Marshall said Thursday in a statement announcing the lawsuit in 19 states. “If the Supreme Court allows them to proceed, California and its allies will jeopardize access to affordable energy for every American.”
The California attorney general’s office on Friday denounced the Republican petition to the Supreme Court as meritless and vowed to pursue the case against oil and gas companies.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong derided it as “pure partisan political theater.” And Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called the Republican efforts “absurd,” noting that the U.S. Supreme Court has already ordered the state’s case heard in a Minnesota court.
Lawsuits generally begin in district courts before moving to the U.S. Supreme Court on appeal. But the Constitution allows some cases to proceed to the Supreme Court if states are involved. The Supreme Court can refuse a request for original jurisdiction.
The Republican attorneys general’s request is “highly unusual” and more commonly used in state disputes over water rights, and not “as an attempt to halt lawsuits by other states,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University in New York.
States joining Alabama’s request include Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
The Supreme Court could also intervene in climate change lawsuits in another way. A separate petition from oil industry defendants is already pending in the Supreme Court to overturn a Hawaii Supreme Court decision that allowed a Honolulu climate change lawsuit to be heard in state court.
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Associated Press writers Adam Beam, Susan Haigh and Steve Karnowski contributed to this report.
