IN case you missed it...
Date | 01 April 2022 |
42022ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 52 ELR 10331
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT . . .
In the Courts
"In the Courts" contains full summaries of court cases reported in ELR Update during the month of February 2022. They
are listed under the following categories: Climate Change, Governance, Natural Resources, and Wildlife. The summaries
are then arranged alphabetically by case name wit hin each category. To access ELR's entire collection of court cases and
summaries, visit https://www.elr.info/judicial.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County v. Suncor
Energy (U.S.A.) Inc., No. 19-1330, 52 ELR 20020 (10th Cir.
Feb. 8, 2022). e Tenth Circ uit armed a district court’s or-
der remanding to state cour t a climate liability lawsuit agai nst
fossil fuel companies. Municipalities in Colorado argued in
state court that they faced substantial and rising costs from
the threat of climate change, to which the companies had
substantially contributed, and sought compensation to cover
such costs. e companies removed the case to federal court
on “federal ocer” grounds, among others, and the munici-
palities subsequently moved to remand for lack of federa l sub-
ject matter jurisdiction. e district court granted the mo-
tion, rejecting all seven of the compa nies’ grounds for remov-
al and remanding to state court. e appellate court limited
its review to the federal ocer removal claim and concluded
the companies failed to establish grounds for removal. e
U.S. Supreme Court subsequently claried that jurisdiction
extended to all grounds advanced for federal jurisdiction in
this insta nce, and vacated and remanded the appellate court’s
decision. On remand, the appellate court concluded that
none of the grounds the companies asser ted for removal were
sucient to establish federal jur isdiction over the municipali-
ties’ state-law claims. It armed the district court’s order re-
manding the suit to state cour t.
Louisiana v. Biden, No. 2:21-CV-01074, 52 ELR 20022
(W.D. La. Feb. 11, 2022). A district court granted states’
motion to preliminarily enjoin federal agencies from imple-
menting the Biden Administration’s interim estimates on the
social costs of greenhouse gas emissions. e states argued
the president lacked authority to promulgate and enforce the
estimates or to consider global e ects in domestic policymak-
ing; that the est imates were based on a fundamentally awed
methodology that did not tak e into account statutory consid-
erations and ignored best regulatory practices; and that the
estimates violated the Energy Policy and Conservation Act,
the CAA, NEPA, the Mineral Leasing Act, and the Outer
Continental Shelf Lands Ac t. e court found that the states
had demonstrated multiple, independently sucient grounds
to vacate the estimate a nd thus had shown a strong likelihood
of success on the merits. It granted the motion for prelimi-
nary injunc tion.
Sagoonick v. Alaska, No. S-17297, 52 ELR 20 018 (Alaska Jan.
28, 2022). e Alaska Supreme Court armed, 3-2, a lower
court’s dismissal of a climate liability lawsuit brought aga inst
the state of Alaska. Alaskans argued the state’s natural re-
source development was contributing to climate change and
adversely aecting their lives. e lower court dismissed the
suit, concluding plaintis r aised nonjusticiable political ques-
tions better left to the other branches of government. e
high court found th at it was impossible to grant the requested
injunctive relief—mandating t hat the state develop a climate
recovery plan to stabilize the climate—without infringing
on an area constitutionally committed to the legislature and
supplanting other branches’ judgments about the balance of
development, management, conservation, and environmenta l
protection. It armed dismissa l of the suit.
GOVERNANCE
Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. International Develop-
ment Finance Corp., No. 21-cv-1491 (CRC), 52 ELR 20023
(D.D.C. Feb. 11, 2022). A district court dismissed environ-
mental groups’ challenge to the International Development
Finance Corp’s (DFC’s) 2020 rule exempting itself from the
Sunshine Act. e groups cha llenged the rule under the APA
and the Sunshine Act itsel f, and sought an order declaring the
DFC subject to the Sunshine Act and enjoining the agency
from conducting meetings out of the public eye. e DFC
moved to dismiss for lack of standing and failure to state a
claim. e court found the groups had established informa-
tional standing but that the DFC did not meet the Sunshine
Act’s denition of an “agency,” and dismissed the suit.
Young v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, No.
21-2623 (TJK), 52 ELR 20024 (D.D.C. Feb. 16, 2022). A
district court denied two former EPA science advisors’ mo-
tion to preliminarily halt the activities of the Agency’s Clean
Air Scientic Advisory Committee. e advisors argued the
committee violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act’s
requirement that memberships be “fairly balanced” because
there was no “industry representative” on the committee,
and that one of them would suer irreparable harm—the in-
Copyright © 2022 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.
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