A magistrate judge in the federal district court for the District of Connecticut granted in part Conservation Law Foundation’s (CLF’s) motion to determine the sufficiency of defendant Pike Fuels Limited Partnership’s (Pike’s) answers and objections to CLF’s requests for admission in CLF’s citizen suit asserting that Pike violated the Clean Water Act and an industrial stormwater permit by failing to prepare a bulk petroleum storage terminal in New Haven, Connecticut, for the effects of climate change. The parties previously resolved most of their disputes regarding the adequacy of the defendants’ responses to the requests for admissions, the purpose of which is narrow the scope of issues for trial. The magistrate directed Pike to respond to six requests regarding whether Pike treats storm surge discharges as stormwater discharges and other requests related to how Pike considered the impacts of climate change factors. The court sustained Pike’s objections to six other requests for admissions on the grounds that the requests sought admission of purely legal conclusions or were too vague, imprecise, or speculative, including a request for admission that Pike could “take steps to modify” the New Haven terminal “to withstand the impacts of climate change” and various requests regarding Pike’s awareness regarding climate change factors.

Citizen suit alleging failures to prepare a bulk storage and fuel terminal in New Haven, Connecticut for the effects of climate change.

Conservation Law Foundation v. Pike Fuels LP

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Connecticut Federal Magistrate Ruled in Dispute over Climate Change-Related Admissions in Adaptation Citizen Suit Against Bulk Petroleum Storage Terminal Owner

Filed

United States of America

Connecticut

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

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Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

This sector involves the distribution, treatment, and conservation of water resources.

Climate change can have a range of impacts on technological system. Extreme weather events can cause infrastructure failures like power outages or damage to roads and bridges, as well as the impacts from waste following natural disasters. Human activities also cause technological impacts, such as the risks posed by oil spillage and leaks.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

Connecticut Federal Magistrate Ruled in Dispute over Climate Change-Related Admissions in Adaptation Citizen Suit Against Bulk Petroleum Storage Terminal Owner

Risk

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience