Zack Budryk
Mon, June 10, 2024
The Supreme Court solicited the Biden administration’s views on two lawsuits by the city of Honolulu that accuse the oil and gas industries of knowingly suppressing the truth about their roles in climate change.
“The Solicitor General is invited to file a brief in these cases expressing the views of the United States,” the court wrote Monday.
The Hawaii capital first sued several major fossil fuel companies in 2020, alleging they had created a public nuisance with their contributions to climate change and failing to warn the public about how their products would affect the environment.
Hawaii’s top court had earlier ruled that the lawsuit could proceed, writing that the defendants “knew about the dangers of using their fossil fuel products, failed to warn consumers about those known dangers, and engaged in a sophisticated disinformation campaign to increase fossil fuel consumption, all of which exacerbated the impacts of climate change in Honolulu.” The defendants responded by appealing to the nation’s highest court.
The court’s request will push back its decision on whether to review the case. Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in the consideration. While the order does not provide an explanation, Alito’s most recent available financial disclosures indicate he owns stock in ConocoPhillips, one of the defendants in the lawsuits.
Several states and localities are the plaintiffs in ongoing lawsuits seeking to hold oil and gas companies civilly liable for the effects of climate change. The Honolulu cases are the furthest along, and a Supreme Court decision on either side could have major implications for such legal arguments.
In a statement, Ted Boutrous, counsel for Chevron Corp., said “the Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision flatly contradicts U.S. Supreme Court precedent and federal circuit court decisions, including the Second Circuit which held in dismissing New York City’s similar lawsuit, ‘such a sprawling case is simply beyond the limits of state law.’ These meritless state and local lawsuits violate the federal constitution and interfere with federal energy policy.”
Shell, ConocoPhilips and Exxon Mobil declined to comment to The Hill.
The Hill has reached out to the other defendants in the case — Sunoco, Aloha Petroleum, Marathon Petroleum, BHP and BP — and attorneys representing Honolulu for comment.
Supreme court ruling delays climate litigation big oil has sought to thwart
Dharna Noor
Mon, June 10, 2024
An oil refinery in Houston, Texas, in 2020.Photograph: Mark Felix/AFP/Getty Images
The supreme court on Monday asked the Biden administration to weigh in on big oil’s request to thwart litigation that could put them on the hook for billions of dollars.
The one-line order will delay the litigation from advancing to trial. It follows an unprecedented pressure campaign from far-right fossil fuel allies on the court.
“Big oil companies are fighting desperately to avoid trial in lawsuits like Honolulu’s, which would expose the evidence of the fossil fuel industry’s climate lies for the entire world to see,” said Richard Wiles, president of the non-profit Center for Climate Integrity, which supports climate accountability litigation.
Honolulu is one of dozens of cities and states to sue oil majors for allegedly hiding the dangers of their products from the public. In October, Hawaii’s supreme court ruled that the suit can go to trial.
But the defendants petitioned the US supreme court in February to review that decision, arguing the cases should be thrown out because emissions are a federal issue that cannot be tried in state courts.
The high court receives thousands of petitions each year, giving each one only a small chance of being reviewed. But in recent weeks, rightwing fossil fuel allies have pushed the justices to take up oil companies’ request, publishing a slew of op-eds and social media advertisements.
Some of the groups behind the pressure campaign – which experts say is unprecedented – are connected to far-right supreme court architect Leonard Leo, who co-chairs the ultraconservative legal advocacy group the Federalist Society.
“I have never, ever seen this kind of overt political campaign to influence the court like this,” said Patrick Parenteau, professor and senior climate policy fellow at Vermont Law School, told the Guardian last week.
It is not clear how much Monday’s order will delay the Honolulu case, which was filed in 2020. In October 2022, the supreme court referred a similar petition, involving a climate accountability case brought by Colorado communities, to the Department of Justice. The solicitor general weighed in the following March, siding with the plaintiffs.
While awaiting an opinion in the Honolulu case, companies may also file motions to stay – or pause – proceedings in similar litigation filed by other cities and states, though it is not clear the lower courts will grant them.
On the campaign trail, Biden promised to push his justice department to “strategically support” climate litigation. Advocates say Monday’s order will provide the Biden Department of Justice with an opportunity to make good on that promise.
The solicitor general, they say, should affirm the Hawaii supreme court’s earlier decision and call for the petition to be rejected.
The oil companies insist that only federal policy should handle the issue of greenhouse gas emissions. But the plaintiffs and their supporters say that the lawsuit is “not seeking to solve climate change or regulate emissions”, but rather aiming to force big oil to “stop lying and pay their fair share of the damages they knowingly caused”, said Alyssa Johl, vice-president of legal at the Center for Climate Integrity.
Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in the supreme court’s consideration of the petition, probably because he owned stock in ConocoPhillips, a defendant in the case.
Supreme Court seeks US government views on Honolulu climate suit against oil
companies
Mon, June 10, 2024
A no parking sign turns motorists away from a view on the coastline southeast of Honolulu
By John Kruzel
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked President Joe Biden's administration to offer its views on a bid by Sunoco and other oil companies to scuttle a lawsuit by Honolulu accusing them of deceiving the public about climate change.
The request will delay a decision by the justices on whether to hear an appeal filed by the oil companies after Hawaii's top court let the suit proceed. Other defendants in the lawsuit, which alleges violations of state law, include Exxon Mobil, BP, ConocoPhillips, BHP Group, Marathon Petroleum, Chevron and Shell.
Honolulu has accused them of misleading the public for decades about the dangers of climate change induced by the burning of fossils fuels.
The administration's legal position will come in a brief filed by the solicitor general, the Justice Department lawyer who represents the federal government before the Supreme Court.
The suit was filed in 2020 by the city and county of Honolulu and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, a semi-autonomous city agency. The plaintiffs said misleading statements made by the companies about the impact of their fossil fuel products paved the way for property and infrastructure damage caused by human-induced climate change.
(Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham)
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