The Supreme Court announced Monday it will hear arguments from oil and gas companies seeking to block lawsuits that aim to hold the industry accountable for billions of dollars in climate change-related damages.
The conservative-majority court agreed to take up a case from Boulder, Colorado, that accuses the companies of misleading the public about how fossil fuels contribute to .
Governments across the country have sought damages totaling billions of dollars, arguing the funds are necessary to cover rebuilding costs after wildfires, rising sea levels, and severe storms worsened by climate change. These lawsuits come amid [blank] in California, Hawaii, and New Jersey that seek to push for action through the courts.
The Boulder County case is expected to have implications for those other lawsuits.
[Blank] and [blank] appealed to the Supreme Court after Colorado’s highest court allowed the Boulder case to proceed. The companies argue emissions are a national issue that should be heard in federal court, where similar lawsuits have been dismissed.
“Using state law to address global climate change represents a serious threat to one of our nation’s most critical sectors,” the attorneys wrote. ExxonMobil said Monday that “climate policy shouldn’t be set through fragmented state-court actions.”
President Donald Trump’s administration weighed in to support the companies and urge the justices to reverse the Colorado Supreme Court decision, warning it would mean “every locality in the country could sue essentially anyone in the world for contributing to global climate change.”
Trump, a Republican, criticized the lawsuits in an executive order, and the Justice Department has sought to block some of them in court.
Attorneys for Boulder argued the litigation is still in early stages and should stay in state court. “There is no constitutional bar to states addressing in-state harms caused by out-of-state conduct—whether it’s the negligent design of an automobile or the sale of asbestos,” they wrote.
City officials said the case centers on addressing problems people in Colorado are facing. “Our case is fundamentally about fairness. Boulder is already experiencing the effects of a rapidly warming climate, and the financial burden of adaptation should not fall solely on local taxpayers,” said Jonathan Koehn, the city’s climate initiatives director.
The Supreme Court also asked both sides to present arguments on whether the case is truly ready to be heard by the justices. Arguments are expected in the fall.