The federal district court for the Western District of Washington granted the Makah Indian Tribe’s and Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe’s motions to remand their climate change cases against fossil fuel companies to state court. The court rejected arguments that there was federal jurisdiction based on complete preemption of the Tribes’ public nuisance and failure to warn claims by federal common law governing possessory land claims based on aboriginal title. The court concluded that even if federal common law could completely preempt certain state-law claims, the Tribes’ claims would not be completely preempted because they were “not in fact reducible to injury to land.” The court also found that the Tribes’ state-law claims did not necessarily raise substantial and actually disputed federal issues about tribal land rights or about whether the Tribes might recover tribal healthcare costs ultimately borne by the federal government. The court further found that exercising jurisdiction over the Tribes’ state-law claims would disrupt the congressionally approved balance of federal and state judicial responsibilities.

Tribe's lawsuit seeking to hold fossil fuel companies liable for climate change harms allegedly resulting from the companies' "climate deception campaign."

Makah Indian Tribe v. Exxon Mobil Corp.

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Federal Court Remanded Tribes’ Climate Cases Against Fossil Fuel Companies to Washington State Court

Filed

United States of America

Washington

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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.

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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.

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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

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Hot temperature extremes are daily maximum temperatures  that were exceeded on average once in a decade or once in 50 years, and includes heatwaves.

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.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

Electrical energy generated from mechanical devices driven by flowing fresh water.

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.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

Jobs that contribute to preserving or restoring the environment. We include jobs which require a high amount of green skills or which spend much of their time on green activities, as well as jobs transforming polluting industries.

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

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Federal Court Remanded Tribes’ Climate Cases Against Fossil Fuel Companies to Washington State Court

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance