A group of 21 youths led by climate scientist and father to one of the children James Hansen, tasted victory Friday when U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin of U.S. District Court for Oregon recommended that motions to dismiss their case against the federal government be denied.
The group, known under the name “Our Children’s Trust,” alleged in a lawsuit filed in August 2015 that “the Federal Government is violating Plaintiffs’ constitutional and public trust rights by promoting the development and use of fossil fuels. The Complaint explains that, for more than fifty years, the U.S. Government has known that carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution from burning fossil fuels causes global warming and dangerous climate change, and that continuing to burn fossil fuels destabilizes the climate system.”
The suit was quickly met with motions to dismiss from the defendants, the U.S. Government.
The first motion to dismiss cited the group’s failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In the second motion to dismiss, the defendants argued that in order to meet the plaintiffs’ demands that the government “cease jeopardizing the climate system for present and future generations,” the court would have to make and enforce national policy dealing with carbon dioxide. “Article III [of the U.S. Constitution] does not give Plaintiffs standing to bring such an action or invest a federal court with the power to transform its limited jurisdiction to decide ‘cases’ and ‘controversies’ into a national writ to make climate policy,” the motion states.
While Coffin’s recommendation is a step forward for the group, they’re not out of the woods yet. The recommendation will now be reviewed by a second judge in the same court.
