Pirate's Cove

Alabama figures if the People’s Republik Of California wants to destroy their power production, fine, but, it shouldn’t affect other states, including when states, counties, and towns which haven’t given up their own use of fossil fuels sue national and international fossil fuels companies (non-paywalled here)

Alabama Sues to Stop California’s Climate-Change Power Grab

Justice Louis Brandeis described states as laboratories of democracy that “can try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” But what happens when a state tries to experiment on its neighbors? That’s the question presented to the U.S. Supreme Court in Alabama v. California, a case filed this week by 19 states challenging the attempts of California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island to regulate out-of-state carbon emissions under the guise of state tort and consumer-protection lawsuits.

This blue-state experiment arises from policy makers’ frustrations with the national democratic process. Oil and gas account for two-thirds of U.S. primary energy consumption; they are critical to economic prosperity and geopolitical power. Despite decades of effort, progressive climate activists haven’t persuaded Congress to ban fossil fuels.

In recent years, certain blue states have tried a different approach. They now assert that regulating emissions from oil and gas use isn’t a federal matter but a state-law issue for their own courts to decide. Under the pretext of “climate nuisance” and deceptive marketing claims, these states have sought to impose a de facto carbon tax on the American oil and gas industry, potentially creating trillions of dollars in supposed liability.

This strategy—backed by a powerful, activist-funded influence operation aimed at judges—has a serious constitutional problem. While the Constitution preserves an expansive realm of state sovereignty, that authority ends at each state’s borders. Alabama doesn’t get to say what law applies in California, and Hawaii can’t regulate conduct in Indiana. Only the federal government can do that, and only when acting within the Constitution’s limited delegations of power. State climate suits violate this arrangement because they claim authority to regulate out-of-state emissions, which would effectively make a small cadre of blue states a junior-varsity federal government, unchecked by voters.

Hmm, that is an interesting, and a wholely Constitutional take. We have a system of Federalism, and states can do things but cannot force it on other states. If the PRC wants to do ‘climate change’ things, have at it. The results shouldn’t infringe on the other states, and that far left wing judges can’t rule on state lawsuits and make them affect other states.

But, it’s not just Alabama

Republican AGs ask Supreme Court to block climate change lawsuits brought by several states

Republican attorneys general in 19 states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block several Democratic-led states from pursuing climate change lawsuits against the oil and gas industry in their own state courts.

The unusual request comes as dozens of states and local governments have filed lawsuits alleging that fossil fuel companies deceived the public about the risks of their products contributing to climate change. The lawsuits claim billions of dollars of damage from such things as severe storms, wildfires and rising sea levels.

The Republican action specifically seeks to stop lawsuits brought by California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island, though lawsuits also have been filed by other states, tribes, counties and cities.

The GOP attorneys contend only the federal government can regulate interstate gas emissions, and states have no power to apply their own laws to a global atmosphere that reaches well beyond their borders. The court filing also contends the climate-related lawsuits could drive up energy costs in other states, including for electricity generated from natural gas.

“They do not have authority to dictate our national energy policy,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in statement Thursday announcing the 19-state lawsuit. “If the Supreme Court lets them continue, California and its allies will imperil access to affordable energy for every American.”

If the PRC and the other states are upset over fossil fuels, ban them in their own states. Stop using them at the state level. Lawsuits are just shady shakedowns.

Read: Alabama Sues Over California’s Power Plan »