The federal district court for the District of Oregon denied in part the federal government’s motion to dismiss youth plaintiffs’ amended complaint asserting that federal defendants violated the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to a stable climate system. The plaintiffs filed their second amended complaint after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that they did not have standing because courts could not redress the plaintiffs’ alleged injuries. The district court first reconsidered its June 2023 determination that the Ninth Circuit’s mandate did not foreclose allowing the plaintiffs an opportunity to amend their complaint; the district court again concluded that allowing the plaintiffs to amend did not contravene the rule of mandate. Regarding the plaintiffs’ standing, the district court first adopted the Ninth Circuit’s determination that the plaintiffs established an injury in fact arising from climate change impacts that was fairly traceable to defendants. Regarding redressability, the district court noted that the plaintiffs had “scaled back” their request for injunctive relief by removing a request for a directive requiring the defendants to “prepare a remedial plan” and instead seeking to restrain the defendants “from carrying out policies, practices, and affirmative actions that render the national energy system unconstitutional in a manner that harms [p]laintiffs.” The court found that such relief was substantially likely to redress the plaintiffs’ harm but that even this narrower request for injunctive relief “still treads on ground over which [the] Ninth Circuit cautioned the Court not to step” because the relief was sought “against a host of governmental defendants” and “would be more expansive than any case of which the Court is aware.” The court concluded, however, that the plaintiffs’ requested declaratory relief—i.e., a declaration that “the national energy system” violates the Constitution and public trust doctrine—“may be enough to bring about relief by changed conduct” and that the defendants failed to show that such relief was outside the court’s authority. The court also found that “the political question doctrine does not impede plaintiffs’ claims.” Regarding the defendants’ motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ due process claim for failure to state a claim, the district court found “that the right to a climate system that can sustain human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society” and that the allegations that governmental action was damaging the climate system in a way that would result in harm to humans stated a claim for a due process violation. The district court also found that the plaintiffs stated a “danger creation” due process claim with their allegations that the defendants failed to adequately regulate the carbon dioxide emissions of third parties. The court also incorporated its earlier analysis concluding that plaintiffs alleged violations of the public trust doctrine in connection with the territorial sea. The court also rejected the defendants’ argument that the plaintiffs were required to bring their claims under the Administrative Procedure Act. The district court dismissed, however, the plaintiffs’ equal protection claim, finding it to be foreclosed by precedent holding that age is not a suspect class. The court also held that the plaintiffs’ claim under the Ninth Amendment was not viable. The court denied the defendants’ requests to certify for interlocutory appellate review this decision and its earlier decision allowing the plaintiffs to amend their complaint. The court also denied the defendants’ motion to stay the litigation and granted the plaintiffs’ motion to set a pretrial conference.

Action by young plaintiffs asserting that the federal government violated their constitutional rights by causing dangerous carbon dioxide concentrations. [Due to a technical issue, some documents are currently not available.]

Juliana v. United States

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Oregon Federal Court Said Youth Plaintiffs Could Proceed with Due Process and Public Trust Claims in Climate Suit

Filed

United States of America

Oregon

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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

A tax advantage is a fiscal incentive where the government reduces or exempts selected activities, goods or actors from taxes.

A subsidy is a direct or indirect payment to individuals or businesses, typically provided as a government cash payment or a specific tax reduction.

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

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.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

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.

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.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

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

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.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

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

Activities involving the management, development, and sale of property assets.

Activities that involve the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fibre, and other products essential for human life and industry.

Activities involving the catching, processing, and selling of fish for food, recreation, and industry.

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.

Oregon Federal Court Said Youth Plaintiffs Could Proceed with Due Process and Public Trust Claims in Climate Suit

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance