On the eve of a climate change tutorial requested by a federal judge in California, fossil fuel companies filed motions to dismiss the nuisance lawsuits brought by San Francisco and Oakland. The five named defendants joined in a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. First, they argued that Congress had displaced federal common law claims based on domestic activities, whether those activities involved combustion of fossil fuels (in which case the Clean Air Act displaced federal common law) or production and promotion of fossil fuels (in which case “many federal statutes … expressly regulate (and, in fact, encourage) such conduct)). The defendants also argued that federal common law principles would not support recognition of a claim based on the defendants’ foreign activities. Second, the fossil fuel companies argued that elements of a federal common law claim for public nuisance were absent. The defendants asserted (1) that the plaintiffs had not alleged and could not allege that the defendants’ conduct was unauthorized by law; (2) that it was undisputed that the defendants did not control the fossil fuels at the time of the alleged creation of the nuisance (i.e., the time of combustion); (3) that the complaint’s allegations did not establish causation, since the claims depended “on an attenuated causal chain including billions of intervening third parties—i.e., fossil fuel users like Plaintiffs themselves—and complex environmental phenomena occurring worldwide over many decades”; and (4) that the damages sought by the plaintiffs in the form of an “abatement fund” could not be awarded because plaintiffs had not alleged actual harm, only “speculative future harms that may never eventuate.” The defendants also argued that damages would violate the defendants’ due process and First Amendment rights. Finally, the defendants asserted that judicial relief would violate separation of powers by invading the executive branch’s authority to conduct foreign affairs and legislative authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce.

Public nuisance actions brought by City of Oakland and City of San Francisco against fossil fuel companies.

City of Oakland v. BP p.l.c.

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Fossil Fuel Companies Asked Federal Court to Dismiss Oakland and San Francisco Climate Change Nuisance Lawsuits

Filed

United States of America

California

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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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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.

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Fossil Fuel Companies Asked Federal Court to Dismiss Oakland and San Francisco Climate Change Nuisance Lawsuits

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance