Funk v. Wolf

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court dismissed a proceeding in which petitioners sought to compel the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, the Pennsylvania governor, and other officials and entities in the executive branch to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to regulate greenhouse gases. The petitioners unsuccessfully alleged that the Environmental Rights Amendment of the Pennsylvania Constitution obligated the respondents to undertake such actions. The court concluded that it did have subject matter jurisdiction and that plaintiffs had standing, but concluded that it could not issue a writ of mandamus compelling the respondents to take the actions sought by the petitioners because the petitioners did not have a “clear right” to have the respondents conduct studies, promulgate or implement regulations, or issue executive orders regarding greenhouse gases. The court also declined to grant declaratory relief because doing so would have no practical effect.

Five children and a young adult filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court against Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and six Pennsylvania agencies and the heads of those agencies seeking to compel regulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. The plaintiffs claimed that the obligation to regulate arose under the Pennsylvania Constitution’s Environmental Rights Amendment (Article I, Section 27). The plaintiffs asked the court to declare the atmosphere a public trust resource protected by the Environmental Rights Amendment and to declare that the defendants had failed to meet their duties as public trustees. They asked the court to require the defendants to take specific actions, including determining the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases that must be achieved to satisfy their constitutional obligations as trustees and to prepare and implement regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to achieve those concentrations.