From staff reports Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond joined 19 other Republican attorneys general who responded last week to climate lawsuits from California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island against the oil and gas industry.
Plaintiffs in the case are Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
The group appeared to the U.S. Supreme Court in a motion filed May 22 arguing that these climate liability challenges threaten “our basic way of life” and are unconstitutional. Teir filing set up a fight between states, which, according to Environment & Energy News, can only be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Defendant States assert the power to dictate the future of the American energy industry,” the attorneys general said. “They hope to do so not by influencing federal legislation or by petitioning federal agencies, but by imposing ruinous liability and coercive remedies on energy companies through state tort actions governed by state law in state court.”
The attorneys general argue that the five blue states want a global carbon tax on the traditional energy industry.
“Citing fears of a climate catastrophe, they seek massive penalties, disgorgement and injunctive relief against energy producers based on out-of-state conduct with out-ofstate effects. On their view, a small gas station in rural Alabama could owe damages to the people of Minnesota simply for selling a gallon of gas,” they further argued.
They contend that if the f ive blue states are right, “their actions imperil access to affordable energy everywhere and inculpate every State indeed every person on the planet.”
Drummond and the other Republican attorneys general say the five states are “exceeding state authority” and usurping federal authority over a federal issue.
“The assertion that Defendant States can regulate, tax, and enjoin the promotion, production, and use of such products beyond their borders—but outside the purview of federal law—threatens profound injury.”