With all attention focused elsewhere, a key federal court handed climate and clean energy advocates a major surprise victory yesterday. In the case, State of Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co. [pdf], the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a group of eight states, three land trusts and New York City could sue some of the country’s biggest producers of global warming pollution and force them to clean up their acts. This decision will likely spur a flood of follow-on court cases and will create increased pressure from corporate boardrooms for the Senate to finally act on climate change. This case is likely the most important ruling on the subject since the Supreme Court’s decided over two years ago that global warming pollution was air pollution in Massachusetts v. EPA. This decision should remind us of the critical role that the judiciary has played in driving all of the major social change movements in the past century.
Another Party Heard From
Why the surprise? In recent months, the challenges of winning Senate approval for clean energy legislation and reviving the apparently stalled international nego... Read more
