US Supreme Court Rejects Big Oil Attacks on Hawaii Climate Lawsuit. “This landmark decision upholds our right to enforce Hawaii laws in Hawaii courts, ensuring the protection of Hawaii taxpayer’s from the immense costs and consequences of the climate crisis caused by the defendants misconduct ”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/hawaii-climate-lawsuit

by Wagamaga

4 comments

  1. Climate campaigners and scientists on Monday welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reject attempts by fossil fuel giants to quash the Hawaii capital’s lawsuit aiming to hold the major polluters accountable for the devastating impacts of their products.

    “This is a significant day for the people of Honolulu and the rule of law,” Ben Sullivan, executive director and chief resilience officer at the City and County of Honolulu’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency, said in a statement.

    “This landmark decision upholds our right to enforce Hawaii laws in Hawaii courts, ensuring the protection of Hawaii taxpayers and communities from the immense costs and consequences of the climate crisis caused by the defendants misconduct,” he added.

    Honolulu first sued companies including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Sunoco in March 2020. The companies have fought to shut down the case—like dozens of other climate liability lawsuits that states and municipalities have filed against Big Oil at the state level.

  2. **Montana Supreme Court affirms decision in historic youth climate case**

    [https://stateline.org/2024/12/19/montana-supreme-court-affirms-decision-in-historic-youth-climate-case/](https://stateline.org/2024/12/19/montana-supreme-court-affirms-decision-in-historic-youth-climate-case/)

    The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a district court ruling in the nation’s [first constitutional climate change trial](https://mtclimatecase.flatheadbeacon.com/), affirming that the youth plaintiffs have a “fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment” while revoking two Montana statutes.

    The [70-page decision](https://dailymontanan.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Opinion-Published.pdf), authored by Chief Justice Mike McGrath, comes 16 months after Lewis and Clark District Court Judge Kathy Seeley [ruled in the landmark Held v. Montana](https://dailymontanan.com/2023/08/14/judge-sides-with-youth-in-montana-climate-change-trial-finds-two-laws-unconstitutional/) lawsuit, explicitly stating that the state’s greenhouse gas emissions are “proven to be a substantial factor in causing climate impacts to Montana’s environment, and harm and injury to the youth plaintiffs.” Seeley’s decision also rolled back two laws enacted by the 2023 legislature that changed the Montana Environmental Policy Act.

  3. Actually bewildering a conservative Supreme Court said this

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