Robert Meltz
Legislative Attorney/Acting Section Research Manager
Congressional inaction on climate change has led various entities to pursue climate change measures off Capitol Hill. Either in hopes of realizing substantive measures or to pressure Congress to act, such entities have looked to international forums, treaty negotiations, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) action under the Clean Air Act, state and regional efforts, and—the topic here—lawsuits seeking to establish climate change impacts as a common law nuisance. If congressional efforts to block or delay EPA from addressing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are successful, that likely will give added importance to such nuisance suits. As background, a private nuisance is a substantial and unreasonable invasion of another’s interest in the private use and enjoyment of land, without involving trespass; a public nuisance is an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public.
In litigating a climate-change/nuisance suit, several issues arise at the outset and, if resolved against the plaintiff, prevent the suit from proceeding. First, there is the question whether the federal common law of nuisance has been displaced yet by EPA regulation of GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act. A second threshold issue is standing to sue, which asks whether a given party is an appropriate one to invoke the jurisdiction of a federal court. As developed by the Supreme Court, the Constitution requires that for a plaintiff to have standing in federal court, he/she must show injury in fact, that the injury was caused by the defendant, and that the remedy sought likely will ameliorate the injury. Suits seeking relief based on climate change claims have run into difficulty with one or more of these requirements. A third threshold issue is the political question doctrine, which is designed to restrain the judiciary from inappropriately interfering in matters reposed in the other branches of government. For example, the defendants in one case argued that one indicium of a political question—the Constitution’s textual commitment of the issue to the executive or legislative branch—is displayed by climate change because using a nuisance case to reduce U.S. CO2 emissions undermines the President’s constitutional authority to manage foreign relations—in particular, to induce other nations to reduce their CO2 emissions.
There are five common law/nuisance suits addressing climate change now or formerly active. Of the two no longer active, neither resulted in a judgment against the defendants. The three stillactive cases are (1) Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co., Inc., a suit against five coalfired electric utilities alleged by plaintiffs to be responsible for the most GHG emissions (following a Second Circuit decision, on petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court on threshold issues); (2) Comer v. Murphy Oil USA, a suit against certain oil, coal, and chemical companies in Mississippi arguing that their GHG emissions contributed to making Hurricane Katrina more severe and thus damaged plaintiffs’ property (now before the Supreme Court on a mandamus petition challenging the Fifth Circuit’s dismissal of the appeal based on the circuit’s lack of a quorum); and (3) Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp., in which a coastal Eskimo village sued 24 oil and energy companies, claiming that the large quantities of GHGs they emit contribute to climate change, which is causing coastal erosion that will require relocating the village (now pending before the Ninth Circuit).
Date of Report: November 19, 2010
Number of Pages: 12
Order Number: R41496
Price: $29.95
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Document available via e-mail as a pdf file or in paper form.
To order, e-mail Penny Hill Press or call us at 301-253-0881. Provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.
Legislative Attorney/Acting Section Research Manager
Congressional inaction on climate change has led various entities to pursue climate change measures off Capitol Hill. Either in hopes of realizing substantive measures or to pressure Congress to act, such entities have looked to international forums, treaty negotiations, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) action under the Clean Air Act, state and regional efforts, and—the topic here—lawsuits seeking to establish climate change impacts as a common law nuisance. If congressional efforts to block or delay EPA from addressing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are successful, that likely will give added importance to such nuisance suits. As background, a private nuisance is a substantial and unreasonable invasion of another’s interest in the private use and enjoyment of land, without involving trespass; a public nuisance is an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public.
In litigating a climate-change/nuisance suit, several issues arise at the outset and, if resolved against the plaintiff, prevent the suit from proceeding. First, there is the question whether the federal common law of nuisance has been displaced yet by EPA regulation of GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act. A second threshold issue is standing to sue, which asks whether a given party is an appropriate one to invoke the jurisdiction of a federal court. As developed by the Supreme Court, the Constitution requires that for a plaintiff to have standing in federal court, he/she must show injury in fact, that the injury was caused by the defendant, and that the remedy sought likely will ameliorate the injury. Suits seeking relief based on climate change claims have run into difficulty with one or more of these requirements. A third threshold issue is the political question doctrine, which is designed to restrain the judiciary from inappropriately interfering in matters reposed in the other branches of government. For example, the defendants in one case argued that one indicium of a political question—the Constitution’s textual commitment of the issue to the executive or legislative branch—is displayed by climate change because using a nuisance case to reduce U.S. CO2 emissions undermines the President’s constitutional authority to manage foreign relations—in particular, to induce other nations to reduce their CO2 emissions.
There are five common law/nuisance suits addressing climate change now or formerly active. Of the two no longer active, neither resulted in a judgment against the defendants. The three stillactive cases are (1) Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co., Inc., a suit against five coalfired electric utilities alleged by plaintiffs to be responsible for the most GHG emissions (following a Second Circuit decision, on petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court on threshold issues); (2) Comer v. Murphy Oil USA, a suit against certain oil, coal, and chemical companies in Mississippi arguing that their GHG emissions contributed to making Hurricane Katrina more severe and thus damaged plaintiffs’ property (now before the Supreme Court on a mandamus petition challenging the Fifth Circuit’s dismissal of the appeal based on the circuit’s lack of a quorum); and (3) Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp., in which a coastal Eskimo village sued 24 oil and energy companies, claiming that the large quantities of GHGs they emit contribute to climate change, which is causing coastal erosion that will require relocating the village (now pending before the Ninth Circuit).
Date of Report: November 19, 2010
Number of Pages: 12
Order Number: R41496
Price: $29.95
Follow us on TWITTER at http://www.twitter.com/alertsPHP or #CRSreports
Document available via e-mail as a pdf file or in paper form.
To order, e-mail Penny Hill Press or call us at 301-253-0881. Provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.
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