Climate lawsuits in all directions.
The court battle over the Willow project wages on, off shore drilling plans for the Gulf of Mexico are drawing lawsuits from both sides of the aisle, and Exxon sues their... shareholders?
The fight to stop the Willow project is set to hit the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and a group of lawmakers filed an amicus brief in support of the Climate and Indigenous groupsâs lawsuit.
Led by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California), the lawmakers filed an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals calling on judges to overturn a district courtâs November decision to allow the project to proceed, saying that the project âviolates the nationâs lawsâ as well as congressional intent. A total of 16 lawmakers joined the brief, including prominent members like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Senators Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).
The Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund is asking us to send letters to our reps to add their support:
If your representatives in Congress already joined the amicus brief in support of the lawsuit, youâll see a message thanking them. If not, the message will ask them to speak out publicly and support the movement to stop the Willow Project.
Post from Democracy Now!:
The Biden administration was hit with two lawsuits over its five-year offshore drilling plan in the Gulf of Mexico. One suit is led by environmental groups including Earthjustice, arguing that Biden has not sufficiently delivered on his campaign promise to address climate change.
"Although we acknowledge the government's focus on climate impacts with the release of this five-year offshore leasing plan, we are taking legal action today because we are concerned about how it will jeopardize the health of overburdened communities," said an attorney with Earthjustice.
The other lawsuit was filed by fossil fuel industry group, the American Petroleum Institute. It argues the opposite, that the plan does not include enough lease sales, "putting American consumers at greater risk of relying on foreign sources for our future energy needs."
This is certainly an interesting development in the growing age of Climate litigation. Climate lawsuits are ramping up around the globe.
Climate litigation has led to lawsuits against the governments of Italy, Turkey, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom, with the latter two ruling in favor of the plaintiffs and forcing lawmakers to act.
New Zealandâs Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Maori leader Mike Smithâs climate case against several fossil fuel and dairy companies, including giant Fonterra.
Exxon Mobil is eating itself.
In January, Exxon filed a complaint in a Texas court to prevent a shareholder proposal that called on the oil company to set new targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from going to a vote. Exxon even sidestepped the SEC; they are seeking a ruling as early as March 19th and even asked the judge to fast-track the case.
This month, Exxonâs lawyers argued that the lawsuit should proceed even though the groups withdrew their proposal. Now, a group of Religious investors (with 4 trillion in assets) are pressuring Exxon to drop the lawsuit.
Shareholder proposals have put environmental issues at the center of many corporate meetings, winning some support from top asset managers concerned about climate change.
Josh Zinner, CEO of the Interfaith Center, said Exxon is trying to silence investors rather than grapple with how to lower emissions as other companies are doing. "This is not some fringe idea, that's why it (Exxon's suit) is particularly troubling," Zinner said.
There is⌠simply put, there is a lot going on in the world of Climate litigation. Exxon suing their own shareholders was certainly not on my bingo card.
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