A Washington Superior Court denied fossil fuel companies’ motions to dismiss state law deceptive marketing-based climate claims asserted by Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe and Makah Indian Tribe. The court adopted the Tribes’ proposed order concluding that federal law did not preempt or preclude the claims; that the claims did not pose non-justiciable political questions; that the claims were timely; and that the Tribes adequately stated claims for public nuisance and for violations of the Washington Products Liability Act.

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

Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe v. Exxon Mobil Corp.

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Washington Court Denied Fossil Fuel Companies’ Motion to Dismiss Tribes’ State Law Climate Claims

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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.

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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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Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

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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.

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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

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Washington Court Denied Fossil Fuel Companies’ Motion to Dismiss Tribes’ State Law Climate Claims

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Economic sector