Southern District of New York Dismisses Climate Change Case Against Chevron
19 Julio 2018 - 5:46PM
Business Wire
Second Straight Defeat for Lawsuits Seeking to
Punish Lawful Energy Production
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New
York today granted Chevron Corporation’s Motion to Dismiss the
climate change lawsuit filed against it by the City of New York.
This decision follows the June 25th order by the U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of California, which dismissed
substantively identical complaints that the same plaintiffs’
lawyers had filed against Chevron on behalf of the cities of San
Francisco and Oakland.
Judge John Keenan’s decision said the claims in the lawsuits,
filed under New York state law, are governed by federal common law.
“The City’s claims are ultimately based on the transboundary
emission of greenhouse gases, indicating that these claims arise
under federal common law and require a uniform standard of
decision.”
The court also ruled federal common law provides no remedy for
climate change-related injuries because, under binding U.S. Supreme
Court precedent, “the Clean Air Act displaces such federal common
law claims.” This is because “Congress has expressly delegated to
the EPA the determination as to what constitutes a reasonable
amount of greenhouse gas emission under the Clean Air Act.”
The court concluded, “given the interstate nature of these
claims, it would … be illogical to allow the City to bring state
law claims when courts have found that these matters are areas of
federal concern that have been delegated to the Executive Branch as
they require a uniform, national solution.”
The court also addressed climate change litigation more broadly.
“The Court recognizes that the City, and many other governmental
entities around the United States and in other nations, will be
forced to grapple with the harmful impacts of climate change in the
coming decades. However, the immense and complicated problem of
global warming requires a comprehensive solution that weighs the
global benefits of fossil fuel use with the gravity of the
impending harms. To litigate such an action for injuries from
foreign greenhouse gas emissions in federal court would severely
infringe upon the foreign-policy decisions that are squarely within
the purview of the political branches of the U.S. Government.”
“The court correctly recognized that climate change is a global
issue that requires a global solution by policymakers, not by the
courts through litigation,” said R. Hewitt Pate, Chevron’s vice
president and general counsel. “Relying on Supreme Court precedent,
federal judges in both New York and San Francisco have now held
that these types of lawsuits cannot proceed, whether asserted under
federal law or state law. It is time for this waste of taxpayer
money and judicial resources to end. Responsible leaders should
engage in an honest conversation about the policy issues of climate
change rather than filing lawsuits and vilifying the men and women
who produce the reliable, affordable energy upon which we all
depend.”
This order addresses a lawsuit filed by the City of New York
City against BP, Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, ExxonMobil and Royal
Dutch Shell that seeks to hold the oil and gas companies
responsible for potential future damage to the city from climate
change. The suit, filed in January 2018, claims that the companies
are responsible for climate change because they produced petroleum
products that others—including New York City itself—then use to
carry out their essential activities, in the process emitting
greenhouse gases. The lawsuit seeks to hold energy producers liable
for creating a “public nuisance” by providing products that third
parties employ in a whole host of productive activities.
The U.S. Supreme Court has already rejected similar claims in
separate cases against direct emitters of greenhouse gases such as
power plants, including claims by the same lawyers behind the more
recent climate change lawsuits.
Chevron Corporation is one of the world's leading
integrated energy companies. Through its subsidiaries that conduct
business worldwide, the company is involved in virtually every
facet of the energy industry. Chevron explores for,
produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets
and distributes transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures
and sells petrochemicals and additives; generates power; and
develops and deploys technologies that enhance business value in
every aspect of the company's operations. Chevron is
based in San Ramon, Calif. More information
about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.
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