On December 22, 2021, the federal district court for the District of Massachusetts issued an order concerning the next steps for Conservation Law Foundation’s (CLF’s) lawsuit alleging that ExxonMobil Corporation (Exxon) failed to prepare its Everett, Massachusetts terminal for the impacts of climate change. The First Circuit sent the case back to the district court in July 2021, finding that the district court erred in staying the case. In its December 2021 order, the district court concluded that a 2021 Supreme Court decision did not alter the standard the district court had used in denying a motion to dismiss claims for prospective injunctive relief for lack of standing. The district court also found that both the question of standing and the question of whether Exxon’s 2021 revisions to the Everett terminal’s stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP) mooted CLF’s claims would benefit from factual development in discovery, as would certain other issues such as the impact of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2021 issuance of a Multi-Sector General Permit. The court also did not require CLF to file a new complaint in light of the SWPPP revisions but warned that CLF could risk denial of a future motion to amend the complaint. The court also declined to bifurcate discovery concerning remedies and liability. The court directed the parties to propose a “more realistic” schedule for fact and expert discovery than the five months CLF proposed for fact discovery.

Citizen suit alleging violations of RCRA and Clean Water Act for failure to take action to prepare marine terminal for climate change.

Conservation Law Foundation v. ExxonMobil Corp.

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Massachusetts Federal Court Declined to Revisit Standing in Adaptation Case, Directed Parties to Propose Discovery Schedule

Filed

United States of America

Massachusetts

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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

People who are less able to respond to the effects of climate change due to having limited financial or physical assets

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 includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

Massachusetts Federal Court Declined to Revisit Standing in Adaptation Case, Directed Parties to Propose Discovery Schedule

Impacted group

Fossil fuel