By Mark Fulton, Michael Gerrard
The Supreme Court cut off the ability of private parties to ask federal judges to set their own emission standards for GHGs. It left the door slightly ajar for plaintiffs to ask judges to set such standards under state law theories, and conceivably to reward money damages, but the decision's strong language affirming that the EPA has special powers and technical expertise-and judges do not-regarding GHGs makes such claims a very long shot. On the other hand, the decision leaves undisturbed, and may strengthen, the ability of states and maybe citizens and companies to go to court to challenge any EPA failures to follow through on the dictates of the federal Clean Air Act in regulating GHGs. The decision also leaves basically untouched litigation against specific projects, whether they involve fossil fuels or renewables. Published by DB Climate Change Advisors.
Read the report Climate Change Litigation After Supreme Court Ruling in American Electric Power v. Connecticut in Columbia Law School's Scholarship Archive.