The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from fossil fuel companies seeking to block lawsuits blaming them for climate change, The Energy Mix reported. This means municipalities may demand billions of dollars in damages from oil and gas producers.
Honolulu, Hawaii, is one of several municipalities trying to bilk these companies out of large sums of money as restitution for causing climate change. It named BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell, and Sunoco as plaintiffs.
Ben Sullivan, the chief resilience officer for the city, claimed it would shield "taxpayers and communities from the immense costs and consequences of the climate crisis caused by the defendants’ misconduct." The state allowed the lawsuit to proceed while the companies being sued insisted that it should be adjudicated in federal court.
Similar lawsuits have been brought in places like New Jersey, California, and Colorado to indemnify them for natural disasters. The legal filings claim that severe storms, wildfires, and rising sea levels can be traced back to fossil fuel usage.
The movement to punish gas and oil companies for the fallout from storms and natural disasters is gaining momentum. Honolulu argued that it had standing at the state level, likely aware that cases at the federal level had already been dismissed.
"Deceptive commercial practices fall squarely within the core interests and historic powers of the states," attorneys for the city wrote. This is a dangerous game they're playing with the fossil fuel industry, which is a vital part of America's economy.
"The stakes in this case could not be higher," attorneys for the gas and oil companies wrote in court documents. They contend that such lawsuits "present a serious threat to one of the nation’s most vital industries."
The center-right think tank American Enterprise Institute warned that Honolulu will "make themselves the nation’s energy regulators" if the lawsuit is allowed to proceed. "I hope that the Court will hear the issue someday, for the sake of constitutional accountability and the public interest," Adam White, a senior fellow at AEI, contends.
Meanwhile, some positive movement for the fossil fuel industry came after the New York State Supreme Court rejected a similar New York City case. Justice Anar Patel found that the city "failed to prove that Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP misled New Yorkers about the climate impacts of fossil fuels."
Republicans were outraged that former President Joe Biden's administration was committed to the radical environmental agenda that encourages action like lawsuits. Although the legal climate will be slow to change, it's clear that the political tide is turning for the GOP.
President Donald Trump is far friendlier to oil and natural gas, including repeating his "drill, baby, drill" pledge. On Monday, Trump followed through with that promise on his first day in office, Fox News reported.
Trump signed several executive orders meant to combat inflation, including for increased drilling. "I will direct all members of my cabinet to marshal the vast powers at their disposal to defeat what was record inflation and rapidly bring down costs and prices," Trump said.
"The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices. That is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill. America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have. The largest amount of oil and gas of any country on earth," Trump said.
These lawsuits are based on the premise that climate change is happening and that it is directly tied to the fossil fuel industry. They must be rejected for lack of evidence, but in the meantime, Trump's commitment to energy independence and support for fossil fuel production will go a long way to keeping the industry afloat.
