Attorneys General and State Leaders Push Back on “Radical” Climate Policies, Lawsuits
Nineteen state attorneys general are challenging the “radical” climate policies of five Democrat-run states, alleging in a new complaint filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that the states’ climate lawsuits are jeopardizing access to affordable and available energy across the country.Nineteen state attorneys general are challenging the “radical” climate policies of five Democrat-run states, alleging in a new complaint filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that the states’ climate lawsuits are jeopardizing access to affordable and available energy across the country.
Fox News reports that the plaintiffs argue California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island are dictating national energy policy through restrictive climate policy that attacks oil and natural gas. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said:
“If the defendant states’ laws have their desired effects, fossil fuel energy companies across the nation will either be hit with massive damages or have to change their policies directly. And, those defendant states will affect the availability of cheap, affordable energy in our states.”
Speaking of climate litigation specifically, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall took aim at the states’ attempts to use the courts to bypass legitimate legislative means:
“I think one of the things that is so most objectionable is the fact they are using common law claims, plus the statutory Deceptive Trade Practices Act claims, as a vehicle to engage in climate policy.”
For example, if the lawsuits are legitimized, the filing points out, a “small gas station in rural Alabama could owe damages to the people of Minnesota simply for selling a gallon of gas.”
This is just the latest inflection point of states across the county increasingly pushing back against the climate litigation campaign, the effects of which will harm Americans nationwide should these cases find success.
Read the full post at EIDClimate.org.
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