The company argued that its challenged production was sufficiently related to its contractual duties to refine crude oil into aviation gasoline, or avgas, for the U.S. Army during World War II. A federal district judge and the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected Chevron’s argument, but the Supreme Court accepted it.
“Chevron has plausibly alleged a close relationship between its impugned conduct and the performance of its federal duties — not a weak, remote, or marginal relationship,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson penned a concurring opinion.
Justice Samuel Alito himself recanted shortly before the arguments. As with some other issues involving major oil companies, he said bent Because of his shares in ConocoPhillips, its subsidiary, Burlington Resources Oil and Gas Company, is involved in the case at the district court level.
This Supreme Court battle stems from dozens of cases filed more than a decade ago. As NOLA.com detailed Friday:
In 2013, a group of local parishes and the state filed 42 lawsuits against energy companies whose predecessors sought to produce crude oil during World War II. They claimed that oil and gas companies destroyed wetlands and failed to obtain or comply with proper permits.
After a three-week trial, a Plaquemines Parish jury sided with the state in one of those cases and returned a $745 million verdict against Chevron and two other companies.
But the companies objected to the ruling, saying the case should have been heard in federal court, not state court.
Thanks to the Supreme Court, the Plaquemines Parish case may now be retried in U.S. District Court. Company spokesman Bill Turin He said “Chevron looks forward to prosecuting these cases in federal court where they belong,” she said in a statement.
There are also potential implications for other legal battles related to the industry fueling the global climate emergency, American Energy Institute CEO Jason Isaacs, a former Texas state representative, celebrated in a statement issued Friday. he described The decision as “a critical step toward restoring sanity to our legal system and stopping the endless wave of politically motivated lawsuits designed to punish the very industry that supports our economy and national security.”
The Supreme Court’s decision came specifically as the justices prepare to hear ExxonMobil and Suncor’s request to move a 2018 lawsuit filed by the city of Boulder, Colorado — seeking financial damages for the companies’ role in creating the climate crisis — from state court to federal court. Alito has not yet recused himself from the issue.
Fossil fuel companies enjoy significant support from the Republican Party, which controls the White House and both chambers of Congress. President Donald Trump returned to power last year with the help of campaign funds for the industry, and his administration has supported challenged businesses in Louisiana.
As The New York Times male On Friday, the communities’ lawsuits “gained support from Republican leaders in Louisiana, including those who have supported President Trump’s ‘energy dominance’ agenda.” Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Morrell, both Republicans, supported the legal challenges.
However, ahead of the November midterm elections, Republicans in Congress are working to protect oil and gas companies from what they call “abusive state climate lawsuits.” There are similar efforts at the state level. As the times I mentioned Earlier this month, Utah recently became “ The first country to enact A law that protects companies from climate-related claims. Republican lawmakers in at least four other states, including Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennesseeand yeah“We are working on similar draft laws.”
Cassidy DePaola, communications director for the Make Polluters Pay campaign, warned earlier this year that “a federal liability shield for fossil fuel companies will not lower energy prices or ease the cost of living. Rather, it will simply shift more of the financial burden to working families and local governments while shielding one of the most profitable industries in history from accountability.”
“Congress should not close the doors of the courts to communities seeking redress,” DePaola said. “Big oil companies are not entitled to special immunity from the consequences of their conduct.”
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