The Supreme Court is hearing whether Boulder, Colorado, can make oil and gas companies help cover local costs tied to climate-related disasters. The case could affect lawsuits with billions of dollars at stake. Boulder’s city and county sued Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil in 2018, seeking unspecified damages to help pay for worsening disasters and alleging the companies violated state law by deceiving the public about their contributions to climate change.
For Tawnya Somauroo, those costs are personal. Less than an hour after the first warning that a wildfire was headed toward her suburban street, flames destroyed her home in Louisville, Colorado. She has spent nearly five years rebuilding it and helping make the neighborhood better able to withstand another blaze.
“We lost our homes and they left us to figure out for ourselves how to make our neighborhoods safe again,” Somauroo said. “At the end of the day, it comes out of our pockets, you know? And it does feel like maybe the oil and gas industry should have a part in this.”
Who bears the local costs
Somauroo lives in Boulder County, one of dozens of jurisdictions across the United States suing oil and gas companies to help pay for damage from disasters linked to climate change. The lawsuit came before the fire destroyed her home.
Climate change played a role in the 2021 Marshall Fire. The blaze caused an estimated $2 billion in damage, making it the costliest wildfire in Colorado history. Somauroo worries that careful landscaping, metal fencing and flame-resistant siding might not protect her rebuilt home.
Boulder says it isn't seeking to regulate emissions beyond its borders; it wants companies to pay local costs. Sam Sankar, senior vice president at Earthjustice, which filed an amicus brief, said, “Boulder County and city aren't trying to change what's happening in Texas or New York, they're trying to get compensation for things happening now in Colorado.”
Chris Winter, executive director of the Getches-Wilkinson Center, an environmental research group in Colorado, said local county and municipal governments play an important part in helping frontline communities adapt to climate change. He said the case could set a precedent.
Federal power and corporate defense
The companies argue that state-court lawsuits aren't the way to address a global issue. Phil Goldberg, special counsel for the Manufacturers' Accountability Project, an industry group, said climate change is caused by “pretty much everybody living on earth” and argued that the litigation doesn't address the problem.
The Trump administration backs the companies. Federal government attorneys say the lawsuits amount to a backdoor effort to regulate heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions and an unconstitutional power grab. They argue that the Clean Air Act gives the federal government, not states, authority to regulate emissions, and wrote that no state can impose its regulatory preferences on the rest.
The Republican administration has largely used federal authority to roll back environmental regulations. Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency repealed rules limiting planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and natural-gas-fueled power plants. That move could complicate the government's argument that federal authority over emissions should displace state-court claims.
The court's decision point
The Supreme Court has a conservative majority, and environmental regulations haven't always fared well there. In 2022, the court limited the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
Only eight of the nine justices were to hear the Boulder case. Justice Samuel Alito recused himself a week before arguments after people called for him to step aside because he owns stock in oil companies. A tie vote was possible, but its likelihood remained unclear.
The court is also weighing whether it has jurisdiction to hear the case at this stage. Experts called that question a potential “off-ramp.” Its decision could determine the fate of similar climate lawsuits in the United States and around the world.