An Oregon appellate court upheld a lower court's finding that the public trust doctrine does not require the state to defend the environment from climate change. Plaintiff children had sought declaratory relief for the state's failure to take sufficient steps to protect its public trust resources fr...

A district court dismissed a request by environmental groups to compel the State Department to release documents detailing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions as required by the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. The groups sought to compel the submission of two required reports via the APA, and...

A state court dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of Alaskan youth alleging that the state has contributed to climate change through its actions with respect to fossil fuels and carbon emissions. The group sought declaratory relief that the state's actions violated their fundamental rights to a sta...

The U.S. Supreme Court denied the U.S. government's petition for a writ of mandamus in a lawsuit brought by a group of youths challenging the government's failure to act on climate change and asserting the right to a safe climate. The court found that the government's petition was unwarranted becaus...

A Washington state court dismissed a lawsuit filed by young Washingtonians alleging a right to a clean environment and stable climate. Specifically, plaintiffs argued that the state should be required to submit a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan because they have a state constitutional right ...

A district court granted oil companies' motion to dismiss New York City's case seeking damages for global warming-related injuries caused by greenhouse gas emissions resulting from combustion of the companies' fossil fuels. The companies argued that the city's claims should be dismissed because they...

A district court granted oil companies' motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the cities of Oakland and San Francisco alleging that the companies make and sell products that create a public nuisance—global-warming-induced sea-level rise—when combusted. The cities further alleged that the oil co...

A district court held BLM violated NEPA when it approved 13 oil and gas leases covering 19,788 acres in the Santa Fe National Forest without considering the leases' impacts on climate change. BLM decided an EIS was not warranted based on its FONSI. But BLM failed to take a hard look at the impacts o...

A district court ordered EPA to comply with a FOIA request concerning the EPA Administrator's statement on TV that he did not believe human activity was a primary cause of climate change. Following his remarks, an environmental group filed a FOIA request for EPA records “relied upon by Administrat...

A district court denied the U.S. government's motion to stay discovery in a lawsuit brought by a group of youths against the U.S. government for failing to protect them from climate change. The government argued that the group is not entitled to discovery because their claim must proceed under the A...