By Jennifer Hijazi, Bloomberg Law
Delaware’s Superior Court will allow the state’s climate deception suit to move forward while granting some concessions to BP America Inc. and other industry defendants.
In a decision issued on Tuesday, Judge Mary M. Johnston scrapped claims of misrepresentation against certain individual companies and also claims regarding global emissions that don’t originate in Delaware. She wrote that claims against emissions “from out-of-state or global greenhouse emissions and interstate pollution” are preempted by the Clean Air Act and beyond the limits of state law.
Johnston did, however, find that “the CAA does not pre-empt state law regulation of alleged claims and damages resulting from air pollution originating from sources in Delaware. Air pollution prevention and control at the source is the primary responsibility of state and local governments.”
The judge also denied companies’ other major arguments against the case, including claims that the lawsuit raises nonjusticiable political questions.
Delaware’s attorney general filed the case in September 2020, joining other states, cities, and counties looking to hold energy companies liable for allegedly misleading climate change statements.
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