Supreme Court Weighs Oil Companies’ Right To Send Climate Bills To Homeowners
The Supreme Court will open its new term by considering whether oil companies possess an ancient constitutional right to retain their profits while forwarding climate-disaster expenses to whichever homeowners still have roofs. In Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, local officials are seeking damages from ExxonMobil and Suncor, alleging the companies deceptively marketed fossil fuels while communities paid for worsening heat, drought and wildfires. The 2021 Marshall Fire caused roughly $2 billion in damage, an amount the petroleum industry considers manageable so long as it appears on somebody else’s statement.
The companies argue that federal law should prevent state courts from investigating the alleged connection between selling carbon products for decades and carbon products eventually reaching the atmosphere. A ruling in their favor could derail similar lawsuits nationwide and preserve the American system under which energy revenue remains private while disaster response, rebuilding and respiratory illness are crowdsourced through taxes, insurance premiums and neighborhood fundraisers. “Boulder wants oil companies to pay for fire damage, which is very unfair, because after a company sells the fuel, the atmosphere belongs entirely to the customer,” President Donald Trump said. “Nobody has ever seen weather on an oil company balance sheet, and I have looked at some very beautiful balance sheets.”
Justice Samuel Alito recused himself following scrutiny involving financial holdings in other oil companies, temporarily depriving the industry of the public confidence traditionally produced when a judge’s investment portfolio resembles the defendant list. The remaining justices must decide whether communities may pursue claims of corporate deception or whether decades of industry messaging were merely an extended reminder that consumers should have read the atmosphere’s terms of service. Under the oil companies’ preferred constitutional framework, Americans remain free to buy gasoline, inhale emissions and rebuild burned neighborhoods, while corporations retain the more fundamental liberty of never receiving the invoice.
* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.