Attorneys general tell justices to let state court decide Boulder’s climate change lawsuit

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser urged the U.S. Supreme Court to let state courts resolve a lawsuit between local governments and energy companies they sued for damages over the companies’ contributions to climate change.

A 2018 lawsuit filed by the city of Boulder and Boulder and San Miguel counties against Suncor Energy and Exxon Mobil seeks to hold the fossil fuel companies accountable through Colorado law. The local governments allege the companies knowingly contributed to climate change, which the governments say has harmed residents. 

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last year that local governments can file such a claim in state court, but the companies appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided in February to take the case. The companies argued in their appeal that federal environmental law shields them from claims related to in-state harms. 

The case has the potential to broadly influence how local governments around the country hold oil and gas companies accountable for their role in climate change. 

Weiser and attorneys general from other Democratic-led states filed a brief Monday that says the Supreme Court should determine if it has the authority to hear the case at this stage before agreeing to hear the energy companies’ appeal. 

“Our federal system depends on state and federal courts each fulfilling their proper role,” Weiser, a Democrat who is running to be Colorado governor, said in a statement. “This case involves the basic question whether Colorado courts can consider common law claims that fossil fuel companies engaged in wrongful behavior that contributed to climate change. At this stage of the case, it would be an overreach and improper for the Supreme Court to prevent Colorado courts from considering the merits of this litigation.” 

The attorneys general say the Supreme Court’s involvement before the state proceedings are complete could affect a range of other cases across the country beyond climate litigation.

The local governments sued the companies because of the rising costs climate change created for them, arguing the cost should not fall solely on taxpayers. San Miguel’s suit is now separate from the Boulder case. 

Boulder’s case is one of dozens across the country seeking a legal remedy for the role the fossil fuel industry has played in climate change. 

Rising levels of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, mostly the result of fossil-fuel combustion, have caused average global temperatures to rise. Global warming is the driving factor in the “megadrought” that has depleted the Colorado River Basin in the last 25 years, the worst dry spell the region has experienced in more than a millennium.

Hotter, drier conditions in Colorado have stressed water supplies, made the state’s forests more vulnerable to insects and diseases, and greatly increased wildfire risk. This past winter was the warmest on record in Colorado, accompanied by low levels of precipitation. 

Suncor’s Commerce City oil refinery has repeatedly been penalized for violating clean air and water standards.