Oakland v. BP PLC
In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that granted two cities' motion to remand to state court climate liability suits brought against five oil and gas companies. The cities of San Francisco and Oakland initially sued the companies in state court, arguing the ...
Calumet Shreveport Refining, L.L.C. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Fifth Circuit, 2-1, granted six small refineries' petitions to review an EPA decision denying their requested exemptions from obligations under the CAA Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. The refineries challenged two actions—EPA's denial of 36 petitions from 36 small refineries seeking exe...
Can We Talk Climate? The SEC Disclosure Rule and Compelled Commercial Speech
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Climate Disclosure Rule has provoked heated controversy on many fronts. Several commenters have argued that the First Amendment precludes the SEC from demanding climate-related disclosures. This Article grapples with the unsettled state of “compelled commercial speech” doctrine, arguing that the rule’s constitutionality should be scrutinized using the prevailing rational basis test, and that even under the intermediate scrutiny test, the rule should be upheld.
Climate Change Disinformation Liability Under the Federal Trade Commission Act
Oil companies and their agents have been actively involved in creating and propagating climate change disinformation for the past half-century. In response to this deception, more than two dozen American states and cities have sued these companies under traditional tort-based causes of action like public nuisance, fraud, negligence, and failure to warn, alleging that the companies fueled uncertainty about climate science and undercut public support for necessary climate action.
Port Arthur Community Action Network v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
The Fifth Circuit vacated the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's (TCEQ's) order granting a PSD permit for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Texas. An environmental group petitioned for review, arguing TCEQ erred by not imposing the same emissions limits for carbon monoxide and n...
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Ass'ns, Inc. v. Chevron Corp.
A district court denied fishing groups' motion to remand a climate liability lawsuit against oil and gas companies. The groups initially sued in state court, seeking damages for lost fishing opportunities allegedly caused by climate change. The companies removed the suit to federal court under the C...
Honolulu, City and County of v. Sunoco LP
The Hawaii Supreme Court affirmed a lower court order denying oil and gas companies' motions to dismiss a climate misinformation suit brought by the city and county of Honolulu and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. Plaintiffs argued the companies knowingly misled the public about the dangers of bu...