- What happened: Former South Carolina State Representative Lin Bennett is out with a piece criticizing the city of Charleston’s “reckless” climate nuisance lawsuit against energy companies, saying it threatens the production of critical energy for Americans and will increase prices for families. Find out more
- Tell me more: Dozens of local and state governments have filed lawsuits arguing that energy companies should be held liable for climate change and be on the hook to fund infrastructure upgrades, among other big-dollar damages.
- The real motive: Bennett notes that the lawsuits that have been filed nationwide are nearly identical, politically motivated and “designed to bypass federal and state legislatures and regulators in determining how to address and mitigate the impacts of climate change.”
- She also questions why many of the lawsuits name local businesses, such as a family-run South Carolina business that operates truck stops.
- In her words: “Like the others, the Charleston suit shows no promise of going anywhere soon. In large part, that’s because the driving force behind these lawsuits is climate politics, not real solutions for communities such as Charleston. The litigation is orchestrated by climate activists, waged by San Francisco-based trial lawyers, and funded by advocacy groups. They are using litigation and state courts to fast track their potentially massive fees. They are calling the shots, and we are nothing more than pawns in their crusade.”
- TLR Thoughts: Backlash against these cookie-cutter climate lawsuits is growing nationwide. Just last week, 20 attorneys general—including Texas—urged the U.S. Supreme Court to determine, once and for all, if state courts are the appropriate venue for these lawsuits. That decision could either shut down this lawsuit mill, or open the floodgates.Read the full article here
