Supreme Court Takes High Stakes Case That Could Cost Energy Companies Billions

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider whether energy companies can be sued in state court over the alleged impacts of climate change.

Federal law prevents local governments from using state law to seek damages for climate change, the energy companies argue, noting one city like Boulder, Colorado, should not be able to “make energy policy for the entire country.”

“Energy companies that produce and sell fossil fuels are facing numerous lawsuits in state courts across the Nation seeking billions of dollars in damages for injuries allegedly caused by the contribution of greenhouse-gas emissions to global climate change,” Suncor Energy and Exxon Mobil wrote in their petition. “But as the Court has recognized for over a century, the structure of our constitutional system does not permit a State to provide relief under state law for injuries allegedly caused by pollution emanating from outside the State.”

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