A local judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought by a Georgia county seeking to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for emissions present throughout the country, regardless of the actual source of those emissions, striking a blow against a burgeoning environmentalist legal tactic.
Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Stephen Corr threw out the county government’s lawsuit against major oil companies, ruling that the county lacked standing to sue the oil companies for allegedly causing weather-related damage to the area.
“Pennsylvania cannot apply its own laws to claims dealing with air in its ambient or interstate aspects,” Corr said, according to Levittown Now. He sided with the defendants in their argument that Bucks County lacked the jurisdiction to file the lawsuit. The judge said the lawsuit mostly concerned “emissions” which are under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency and governed by the Clean Air Act.
Bucks County accused large oil companies including BP, Shell, and Chevron of knowingly misleading the public about the long-term climate impact of fossil fuels. The county sought damages to pay for costs associated with severe storms and flooding.
“The dismissal of the Bucks County, PA climate change lawsuit is a victory for legal clarity and constitutional order. Policy should be shaped by elected lawmakers—not imposed through costly, politically motivated litigation,” said Jason Isaac, CEO of the pro-fossil fuel American Energy Institute.
“This ruling reinforces that courts are not the proper venue for advancing ideological political agendas that seek to undermine America’s energy producers.”
Bucks County’s three commissioners, two Democrats and a Republican, voted last year to hire an outside law firm to explore environmental claims. Judge Corr voiced concerns about the lawmakers hiring the law firm and having the lawsuit filed with limited public input.
The county’s lawsuit resembles those filed by multiple Democratic states against oil companies seeking to hold the firms responsible for climate change. Those lawsuits are part of environmentalists’s effort to alter federal policy and corporate governance through litigation and other means outside of electoral politics.
“These climate nuisance suits are the left’s best plan for enacting the Green New Deal and forcing a leftwing lifestyle on the entire country. This coordinated lawfare campaign is terrible for working families, who just need cheap and reliable energy to power their homes and appliances,” said O.H. Skinner, executive director of the Alliance for Consumers.
The Trump Justice Department is now suing Michigan and Hawaii for its climate lawsuit and Vermont and New York for climate laws imposing fines and penalties on oil companies for alleged disproportionate contributions to climate change.
The Trump administration’s actions complied with his directive, “Protecting American Energy from State Overreach,” to combat blue state climate regulations, especially those in Vermont and New York. Unleashing American energy through deregulation is one of President Trump’s stated priorities for driving economic growth and enhancing U.S. national security.