U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Representative Pramila Jayapal led 90 members of Congress in submitting an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, according to an Aug. 3 statement. The brief argues that the Clean Air Act, the Constitution, and federal foreign policy do not prevent states and localities from holding oil and gas companies accountable for climate-related harms linked to deceptive marketing and sales practices.
The lawmakers’ filing comes as states and local governments face increasing costs from climate change-driven damages. Boulder County officials sued fossil fuel companies under state tort law in Colorado court, alleging that these companies knowingly concealed information about their products’ harmful effects from consumers to protect property and residents’ safety. The petitioners contend before the Supreme Court that federal law preempts such claims; however, Whitehouse, Jayapal, and their colleagues say this argument misapplies congressional intent.
The amicus brief states: “the Clean Air Act’s text, structure, and purpose show that Congress has not preempted respondents’ state tort claims. The Act is intended to improve air quality primarily through emission reductions and thus does not reach respondents’ claims that petitioners engaged in the tortious conduct of deceptive marketing and sales of their knowingly harmful products… Petitioners’ argument ignores the mismatch between the conduct at issue in respondents’ claims and the conduct that Congress sought to regulate in the Act.”
Further addressing preemption arguments regarding emissions regulation or foreign policy conflicts, lawmakers write: “even if petitioners were correct that respondents’ claims could incidentally reduce or even directly regulate emissions (which they do not), the Clean Air Act’s text, structure, and purpose permit that.” They also assert: “Petitioners hardly disguise their intent to upend decades of this Court’s jurisprudence respecting Congress’s legislative choices and state sovereignty in our federal system.”
In addition to Whitehouse and Jayapal’s leadership on this matter with support from 88 other lawmakers—including Senators Richard Blumenthal, Cory Booker, Dick Durbin among others—the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee continues its oversight role over environmental quality programs across natural resources infrastructure nationwide, according to the official website.
The full text of the amicus brief is available online.