Supreme Court Grapples With Climate Suits Against Oil Companies

The US Supreme Court wrestled with whether to allow lawsuits seeking to hold oil companies accountable for climate change, as the justices opened their new term with a clash carrying big stakes for the environment and energy industry.

Hearing arguments in a case involving Exxon Mobil Corp. and Suncor Energy Inc., several justices suggested openness to letting at least a narrow class of claims go forward. But a key justice also voiced concern about the consequences of permitting a deluge of new local government suits against the energy industry, in addition to the dozens that are already pending.

“Presumably, if you prevail, the next day a municipality in every single state will file a lawsuit,” Chief Justice John Roberts told the lawyer representing the city and county of Boulder, Colorado.

The companies are operating at a disadvantage in the case after conservative Justice Samuel Alito decided to recuse last week because of his wife’s stock holdings. That means the clash could end in a 4-4 split, a result that would leave intact a Colorado Supreme Court ruling letting the Boulder suit go forward, without setting a nationwide precedent affecting other cases.