Boulder’s landmark climate lawsuit against Suncor and Exxon can continue, Colorado Supreme Court rules

The Colorado Supreme Court will allow a Boulder establishment lawsuit seeking to hold two of the state s largest oil and gas companies responsible for climate-change harms to move forward according to a ruling Monday The city of Boulder and Boulder County filed the lawsuit seven years ago seeking to hold Suncor Strength and ExxonMobil accountable for driving environment change and the damages their impurity has caused in Boulder County The development wound its way through state and federal courts before the state Supreme Court heard arguments in February over whether the city and county have the authority to sue over air emissions that may not originate in Colorado or may drift somewhere else On Monday the Colorado Supreme Court s justices ruled that Boulder s indicates are not preempted by federal law and that a lower court did not get its ruling wrong The state Supreme Court ruling sends the event back to district court Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett praised the ruling as an affirmation that corporations cannot mislead the community and avoid accountability Our region has suffered significantly from the consequences of context change and in contemporary times s decision brings us one step closer to justice and the tools we need to protect our future Brocket disclosed in a comment But the National Association of Manufacturers which filed as an interested party in the event called on the U S Supreme Court to step in and rule that power producers and sellers cannot be held liable for weather change This entire litigation is a misguided approach to addressing the very real challenges of state change and a distraction from real solutions that will allow the world to source and use vitality in approaches that are affordable and sustainable Chief Legal Officer Linda Kelly declared in a comment The lawsuit is based on Boulder leaders wanting to force the companies to pay for the impacts of global warming which includes recovery from increasingly severe weather that causes wildfires and droughts and alters snowfall that mountain communities depend on for recreational tourism The oil companies lawyers argued that greenhouse gas emissions published by oil and gas production from within the United States and countries around the world do not fall to individual states to regulate Instead they contended it s up to the federal governing body through the Clean Air Act to decide how to regulate emissions from oil and gas operators But lawyers representing Boulder and Boulder County argued that Colorado law allows local governments to pursue contends against Suncor and ExxonMobil because the municipalities are not trying to regulate emissions but rather want to receive compensation for the damage caused by the companies litter The city of Boulder along with Boulder and San Miguel counties originally filed the climate-change lawsuit in Boulder District Court in against Suncor which operates the state s only petroleum refinery in Commerce City and Exxon one of the largest oil producers and refiners in the United States The lawsuit argued that the two oil companies were inhabitants nuisances that their contamination was trespassing into the counties and that their toxicity violated the Colorado Consumer Protection Act The plaintiffs alleged that the petroleum companies also had participated in a conspiracy to deny that setting change is happening and to convince the society to keep using fossil fuels Related Articles Local governments in Colorado demanding more accountability from oil and gas A Colorado man died by suicide via fentanyl overdose What punishment should his dealer face Colorado Senate rejects childhood sex abuse amendment again Advocates hope to put it on ballot anyway Colorado judge erases man s conviction in triple shooting orders him freed Polis signature can end Colorado s two-tier justice system Editorial Since the original lawsuit was filed in Boulder District Court the cases have been separated San Miguel County s separate lawsuit is now pending in Denver District Court The event ruled on by the state Supreme Court this week only involves the city and county of Boulder Since average temperatures in Colorado have risen degrees and are projected to rise another to degrees by according to documents filed in the occurrence Similar cases filed against fossil fuels companies in New Jersey New York and Maryland were dismissed while one filed in Hawaii was allowed by that state s supreme court to stand The U S Supreme Court has declined to accept lawsuits filed by state and local governments The th Circuit Court of Appeals which takes appeals cases from Colorado mentioned the issue belongs in state courts where the damages have occurred This is a advancing story and will be updated Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter