- An Oregon judge has rejected a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to dismiss a lawsuit brought by young people in 2015.
- The lawsuit alleges that the federal government continued to support the fossil fuel industry despite knowing the dangers of carbon pollution.
- Plaintiffs in the Oregon lawsuit allege that the government violated young people's constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property.
An Oregon judge seeks to dismiss a 2015 lawsuit brought by young people who say the federal government knows the dangers of carbon pollution but continues to do so through policies and subsidies that support the fossil fuel industry. The Department of Justice's request was rejected.
U.S. District Court Judge Anne Aiken said the parties “are in no dispute that the climate crisis threatens our ability to survive on this planet. This catastrophe is the great emergency of our time, and it is an urgent matter.” “Action is necessary.”
“Although the facts have yet to be proven, cases like this highlight the desperation of young people at the unhurried, piecemeal, bureaucratic pace of the response to our most dire emergencies. ” she wrote in her ruling late last week.
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Julia Olson, an attorney with Our Children's Trust, the group representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the case is expected to go to trial later this year.
Scene from a lecture given at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. An Oregon judge rejected a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to dismiss a lawsuit brought by young people in 2015.
In a similar case in Montana, a judge ruled last year that the Montana Environmental Policy Act violates the plaintiffs' state constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment. The 1971 law requires state agencies to consider the potential environmental impacts of proposed projects and to receive public input before issuing permits. The state's attorney general appealed the decision.
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Plaintiffs in the Oregon case argued that the government violated young people's constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property.
