The US Supreme Court is considering a lawsuit that several States and environmental groups have filed (American Electric Power, et al., v. Connecticut, et al. (10-174)) against several electric utilities, arguing that their emissions of greenhouse gases are a nuisance that is actionable at law. The companies and the US contend that the regulation of greenhouse gases has been preempted by the Clean Air Act and federal programs, effectively prohibiting common law actions such as nuisance. The appeals court ruled in the utilities' favor.
During oral argument the justices were concerned about the difficulty of resolving a supposed global problem with a lawsuit in which a few emitters are named, and the impossiblity of crafting a workable remedy for an international situation. Here is the report from SCOTUSblog that provides a summary of the argument before the Court.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment