The federal district court for the Eastern District of Missouri held that Missouri and 12 other states lacked standing for their claims challenging executive actions related to establishing a social cost of greenhouse gas emissions. The court also held that these claims were not ripe. The court found that due to the “inherently speculative nature” of their alleged harm, the plaintiff states failed to establish any of the three elements of standing: injury in fact, causation, or redressability. The court was not persuaded that the states were “entitled to special solicitude” that would excuse them from meeting these standing requirements, or that their inability to file comments on interim estimates for the social cost of greenhouse gases was a “procedural injury” that afforded them standing. With respect to ripeness, the court found that any impact of the executive actions could not be felt immediately and that the states would have “ample opportunity to bring legal challenges to particular regulations” that allegedly inflicted an imminent, concrete, and particularized injury. The states appealed the dismissal of the case.

Challenge brought by states to challenge executive order that required development and application of a social cost of carbon.

Missouri v. Biden

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Federal Court in Missouri Dismissed States’ Challenges to Biden Actions on Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases

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Federal Court in Missouri Dismissed States’ Challenges to Biden Actions on Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience