Republican state AGs urge Supreme Court to address climate change lawsuits against oil companiesThis Nov. 6, 2013 file photo shows a Whiting Petroleum Co. pump jack pulling crude oil from the Bakken region of the Northern Plains near Bainville, Mont. Attorneys for a group of youths suing Montana over damages caused by climate …to get involved in litigation filed by local and state governments against fossil fuel companies alleging they are liable for damage caused by climate change.
The local officials had sued the energy companies in state court, seeking redress from physical damage they contend was due to climate change. The oil companies argued the cases should be dismissed under federal law, but the state’s highest court rejected their argument, prompting the appeal to the Twenty GOP attorneys general, led by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, say the lawsuit is a threat to individual state policy choices.
Attorneys general from the following states signed on to Alabama’s brief: Arkansas, Alaska, Idaho, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Texas and Wyoming.