Utah top court skeptical of reviving youth-led climate change case
By Nate Raymond
Sept 4 (Reuters) -Utah's highest court on Wednesday appeared reluctant to revive a lawsuit by young people alleging the state was violating their right to life under the state's constitution by adopting laws that contribute to climate change by promoting fossil fuel development.
Justices on the Utah Supreme Court questioned a lawyer for youth activists suing the state about whether striking down certain laws governing the permitting of oil, gas and coal mining projects would do anything to remedy the climate harms they are alleging given that new fossil fuel projects could still be approved.
"If we can't say that granting the relief you seek would change even a single decision, then there wouldn't be any impact on fossil fuel emissions," Justice Diana Hagen asked the lawyer, Andrew Welle of the non-profit law firm Our Children’s Trust.
Hagen said even if the laws were stuck down, state regulators would still retain discretion to authorize future projects, which the plaintiffs have not sought an injunction to block.
Hagen and other members of the five-judge court suggested that was one of the many potentially fatal flaws of the young activists' lawsuit that would warrant upholding a lower court judge's 2022 decision to toss the case.
That judge, Robert Faust, had concluded the case raised a political question and that nothing in the state's constitution would authorize a judicial remedy to address global climate change.
The lawsuit is one of several climate change cases youth activists have filed nationwide. The youth activists broadly accuse state and federal governments of exacerbating climate change by adopting policies that encourage or allow the extraction and burning of fossil fuels in violation of their rights.
While some of those cases have faltered, a Montana judge last year in a landmark ruling held that the state was violating the rights of young people by barring regulators from considering how new fossil fuel projects could affect climate change.
Hawaii in June agreed to a first-in-the-nation settlement with young people to take action to decarbonize its transportation system by 2045. The Hawaii and Montana cases like the Utah one were pursued by Our Children’s Trust.
In the Utah case, a group of young people alleged they were experiencing serious harms to their health, safety and longevity due to the development and use of fossil fuels in the state, resulting in hazardous air quality and dangerous climate conditions caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
Welle said the statutes in question violate the state's constitution by directing state agencies to promote and authorize fossil fuel development to the maximum extent possible, a policy carried out on a system-wide basis.
"When the citizens who ratified Utah's constitution enshrined its explicit right to life, they understood that it provides fundamental protections, restricting the government from causing serious harm to people's health and safety," Welle said.
His argument faced pushback from a bench comprised entirely of appointees of Republican governors.
Judge Ryan Harris, an appeals court judge sitting in place of a recused justice, noted only one of the laws even used the word "maximized" in its text and appeared designed to ensure oil and gas fields that were authorized were operated "efficiently."
Assistant Solicitor General Erin Middleton said the youth plaintiffs were entitled to disagree with Utah lawmakers' determination that oil, gas and coal development were necessary to ensure its citizens have affordable, reliable energy.
"But they cannot use a generalized declaratory relief action to move the debate about those choices from the elected branches into the court," Middleton said.
The case is Natalie R. v. State of Utah, Utah Supreme Court, No. 20230022-SC.
For the youth plaintiffs: Andrew Welle of Our Children's Trust
For Utah: Erin Middleton of the Utah Attorney General's Office
Read more:
Hawaii agrees to 'groundbreaking' settlement of youth climate change case
Montana urges state top court to overturn landmark climate ruling
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