American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut

In an 8-0 decision authored by Justice Ginsburg, the court dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that federal common law in this area was displaced by the Clean Air Act. The Court found that Congress had entrusted EPA in the first instance to decide how greenhouse gases should be regulated, and that it was not for the federal courts to issue their own rules. A blog entry analyzing the decision is available <a href="https://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/2011/06/20/todays-supreme-court-decision-in-aep-v-connecticut/">here</a>.

The federal government, on behalf of the Tennessee Valley Authority, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Second Circuit decision allowing several states to continue with their public nuisance lawsuit against several utility companies for their greenhouse gas emissions. According to the government, courts should not adjudicate such general grievances absent statutory authority, particularly since EPA had begun regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. A blog entry analyzing the claims raised by TVA and American Electric Power Co. in their briefs is available <a href="http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/2011/02/15/aep-v-connecticut-a-comparison-of-the-briefs-filed-by-the-defendant-electric-utilities/">here</a>.

On August 24, 2010, the federal government, appearing on behalf of one of the named defendants (Tennessee Valley Authority), filed a brief in support of the certiorari petition also seeking to overturn the Second Circuit’s decision. The brief questioned whether the plaintiffs had standing to bring the lawsuit and whether recent actions by EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions supplanted the reason given by the Second Circuit for allowing the case to proceed.

Defendants filed a petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Second Circuit’s September 2009 ruling.