Slate reports:

The Supreme Court officially began its new term on Monday morning with oral argument in Suncor Energy v. Boulder County. Befitting an institution with vast power over the public despite historically low public support, the court’s opening case this term is about elite impunity: Suncor will determine whether communities may sue oil and gas companies in state court and hold them financially responsible for literally fueling climate change.

Back in 2018, Boulder County filed a lawsuit in a Colorado state court against fossil fuel industry giants Suncor Energy and Exxon, alleging that the companies caused extensive—and expensive—alterations to Boulder’s climate. Boulder alleged that the companies knew that their unchecked production and promotion of fossil fuels would “result in dangerous changes in the climate,” but continued such activities anyway, and engaged in a decades-long campaign of “concealing” those dangers and “misrepresenting” them to the public.

As a result, the complaint says, instead of snow in the winter, Boulder gets more “high-intensity, short-duration rainfall events” that overwhelm its drainage systems and cause flooding. Instead of rain in the spring, Boulder gets more droughts that “have substantial implications for agriculture, wildfires and water availability.” And instead of warm days in the summer, Boulder gets more heat waves that lead to “premature deaths” and “adverse economic impacts,” particularly on outdoor labor sectors like agriculture and construction.

Boulder has already spent over $100 million repairing damage related to climate change, and expects to spend over $100 million more in order to adapt its infrastructure over the next 25 years, as it attempts to mitigate the effects of flooding, droughts, wildfires, and other harms. “Taxpayers cannot pay the full costs,” says the state’s complaint, “nor should they.”

Climate change has a hefty price tag, which is why dozens of state and local governments like Boulder’s have filed lawsuits to force the culprits to help pay the costs. It’s also why polluters like Suncor Energy and Exxon are desperate to get the lawsuits thrown out of court. In 2022, however, a Colorado trial court denied Suncor’s motion to dismiss. And last year, the Colorado Supreme Court affirmed that decision, meaning Boulder’s lawsuit could finally move forward. So, the corporations turned to the U.S. Supreme Court for help.

Specifically, the companies are asking for the justices to reverse the state high court’s decision and hold that federal law preempts Boulder’s claims. As a result, the Supreme Court’s decision in Suncor Energy will not tell the public if Boulder’s effort to hold polluters accountable will succeed. Rather, the decision will tell the public if Boulder’s effort can even proceed in the first place.

The path the court will choose is not an entirely foregone conclusion: Although the court routinely takes the side of corporate power over people and the planet, Justice Sam Alito’s last-minute recusal from the case means Boulder only needs one Republican justice to defect to produce a stalemate that leaves the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision in place. Monday’s oral argument provided the first bit of insight into whether any of the GOP justices seem moveable in this case, or if they remain united in support of the fossil fuel industry. [Continue reading…]