Exxon, Chevron ask US Supreme Court to toss ruling in Honolulu climate change suit

Sunoco LP (Texas)

28/02/2024 21:39

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      Companies argue Honolulu's suit is preempted by federal
law
    

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      Honolulu is seeking damages to adapt to climate change
    

  
    By Clark Mindock
       Feb 28 (Reuters) - Fossil fuel companies including Exxon
 XOM.N , Chevron  CVX.N  and Sunoco  SUN.N , on Wednesday asked
the U.S. Supreme Court to scrap a decision that allowed
Honolulu's lawsuit alleging the companies misled the public for
decades about the dangers of climate change to proceed to trial,
according to a lawyer for the companies.
    The petition for certiorari challenges an October Hawaii
Supreme Court decision that rejected the oil companies' argument
that the lawsuit is preempted, or blocked, by federal law
because it seeks to regulate interstate emissions or commerce,
powers reserved for the federal government. It said the case
instead focused on allegedly misleading statements the companies
made, which Honolulu claims led to property and infrastructure
damage caused by climate change.
    The oil companies told the justices Wednesday that the
state's high court got its ruling wrong, since the source of
Honolulu’s alleged climate-related injuries is “most certainly”
the greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels burned in
vehicles and power plants across the country, which are beyond
the scope of Hawaii law. They said that pollution is an
inherently federal issue and that the federal Clean Air Act does
not permit state-law claims based on emissions from other states
that are properly regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency.
    Honolulu’s lawsuit is among dozens of challenges filed by
state and local governments across the U.S. seeking billions of
dollars from the companies to help pay to adapt to things like
sea-level rise, flooding and other climate change-caused
problems.
    If left standing, the Hawaii Supreme Court's decision could
allow Honolulu's case to be the first of such lawsuits to go to
trial.
    The companies, which are represented by Kannon Shanmugam and
Theodore Wells of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and
Theodore Boutrous of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, said the case
provides the court with the “ideal opportunity” to address the
issue “before the energy industry is threatened with potentially
enormous judgments” from Honolulu’s case and others nationwide.
    A spokesperson for Honolulu did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. The city has argued previously that the
energy companies are wrong to say the harms they are suing over
come from interstate emissions since the case is primarily about
the companies' deliberate efforts to undermine climate change
science and does not seek to directly force anyone to curb
fossil fuel production or use.
    In its lawsuit, filed in 2020, Honolulu said the companies
knew for decades that burning fossil fuels would lead to climate
change, but worked to conceal that fact from the public.
    Honolulu said heat waves linked to climate change had
already stressed the local electrical grid, and that a
wastewater treatment plant would need to be retrofitted against
sea level rise at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars,
among other harms. It sought to hold the companies responsible
for those costs, though it did not give an exact damages figure.
    The oil companies already tried to move the case and others
to federal court using similar arguments, but were rebuffed by
the U.S. Supreme Court in April. Similar cases filed by local
governments in California, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, New
Jersey and Rhode Island have also been sent back to state
courts.
    The case is Sunoco LP v. City and County of Honolulu,
Hawaii, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 23A651.
    For the energy companies: Kannon Shanmugam and Theodore
Wells of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; and Theodore
Boutrous of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
    For Honolulu: not immediately available
    
Read more:
    Honolulu climate case against oil cos can go to trial
-Hawaii top court
  
    US climate change lawsuit seeks $50 billion, citing 2021
heat wave
  
    US Supreme Court rebuffs Exxon, Chevron appeals in climate
cases
  

 (Reporting by Clark Mindock)