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May 31, 2022 News
Kaieteur News – Another attempt by ‘Big Oil’ to have a climate change lawsuit brought against them to be tried in a federal court as opposed to a state court – which is considered more plaintiff-friendly – has been denied.
Last Monday, a federal appeals court delivered another blow to the efforts by Big Oil – Chevron Corp, ExxonMobil Corp and other oil companies – to force state and local governments to pursue lawsuits claiming they fuelled climate change in federal rather than state court.MASSACHUSETTS
On May 24, the Massachusetts High Court unanimously rejected Exxon’s submission to dismiss a lawsuit against them in which it was stated that the oil giant misled consumers and investors about climate change and the dangers of using fossil fuels.
The court ruled that the oil giant must face a trial over allegations that it lied about the climate crisis, and even hid the fossil fuel industry’s role in worsening environmental damage.
The lawsuit was brought against Exxon by Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healey. Exxon called the lawsuit politically-motivated and claimed that it violated a state law protecting defendants from lawsuits designed to silence them.
The lawsuit accuses Exxon of breaking the state’s consumer protection laws with a decades-long cover-up of what it knew about the impact on the climate of burning fossil fuels. The state also noted that the company deceived investors about the risks to its business posed by global heating.
On the other hand, Irving, Texas-based Exxon has disclosed that it was assessing its next move.
BALTIMORE
Last month, Exxon, BP PLC and Chevron lost their second federal appeal against a lawsuit by the city of Baltimore seeking to hold them responsible for climate change.
It was on Thursday, April 7, 2022, when the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled and sent back the lawsuit once again to the State court, as opposed to the matter being heard in the federal court – like the oil giants desired.
With the court’s ruling, the city of Baltimore has once again, won the legal battle to have its climate change lawsuit against more than 20 energy firms returned to state court, where it believes it has a better chance of obtaining damages for the harm it maintains the fossil fuel firms knowingly inflicted on the city and its residents over decades.
According to Reuters, the Fourth Circuit “resoundingly” rejected the companies’ arguments that Baltimore’s state-law claims were inherently federal because it sought to hold them liable based on the production and sale of oil and gas abroad. The oil giants argued that the Clean Air Act is the exclusive vehicle to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and that Baltimore’s state-law claims conflicted with federal interests.
Nevertheless, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit ruled that Baltimore’s case is built on state, not federal law and should be heard in state, not the federal court.
Baltimore’s 2018 complaint claims the companies deceived the public about the dangers associated with their fossil-fuel products, which contributed to greenhouse-gas pollution and climate change.
The lawsuit alleges that the energy giants created a public nuisance and should be forced to cover the climate-change costs the city faces, including increased infrastructure spending.
CALIFORNIA
On April 19, a federal appeals court sent lawsuits by six California cities and counties accusing Exxon, Chevron and other energy giants of fuelling climate change back to state court. The ruling was made by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Reuters reported too that U.S. Circuit Judge Sandra Ikuta rejected the companies’ arguments that the cases raised substantial federal issues that belonged in federal court, adding that the statute that governs removing cases from state to federal courts must be interpreted narrowly.
“Our adherence to this doctrine does not change merely because plaintiffs raise novel and sweeping causes of action,” she wrote for the three-judge panel.
California local governments including San Mateo, Marin and Santa Cruz counties had sued more than 30 energy companies beginning in 2017, alleging their production and marketing of fossil fuels contributed to global warming.
The lawsuits claimed the companies, which also include BP and Shell, created a public nuisance, failed to warn about the risks of climate change and should be forced to cover the climate-change costs the local government face, such as infrastructure repair due to rising sea levels.
Notably, in all of the cases that were filed in state courts, which are perceived as advantageous for plaintiffs – state courts are established by the laws of each state and have broad jurisdiction, in contrast, federal courts are established under the U.S. Constitution and have a much narrower jurisdiction – resulting in oil companies preferring lawsuits against them to be tried in federal courts.
GUYANA
Meanwhile, on the local front, Exxon is facing yet another court action on the issue of climate change.
Last year two citizens, through their lawyers, filed a case in the High Court against Exxon’s Stabroek Block projects. According to the case, which lists Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, SC, as a representative for the State, the High Court is being asked to determine whether Exxon’s operations violate the Constitutional right of current and future generations to a healthy environment.
The first applicant, Dr. Troy Thomas, is a Scientist and a University of Guyana lecturer. The second applicant, Quadad de Freitas, is a young man from the South Rupununi Region of Guyana, an area rich in biodiversity, now threatened by climate change.
According to Dr. Thomas: “Guyana is a carbon sink. The Guyanese people are not responsible for climate change, but we are already suffering the effects. Climate change, ocean acidification and rising sea level pose existential threats to the people and State of Guyana. As a scientist, I urge people to look at the evidence and to face reality.”
The case refers to the overwhelming scientific evidence of the devastating effect of greenhouse gas emissions, pointing out that oil and gas production are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Guyana is particularly vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels while ocean acidification threatens the Guyanese livelihoods that depend on healthy marine ecosystems.
The case cites Guyana’s international obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement in support of its claim for declarations that emissions from oil and gas production make the environment more harmful to health and wellbeing in violation of Article 149J of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to a healthy environment and requires the State to protect the environment for present and future generations.
Article 149J specifically states that: (1) everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to his or her health or well-being. (2) The State shall protect the environment, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures designed to – (a) prevent pollution and ecological degradation; (b) promote conservation; and (c) secure sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.
The case, which is set to be heard in the Guyana High Court, also seeks to protect children, young people and future generations who bear a disproportionate burden in having to live with the effects of climate change.
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