By Mary O’KEEFE

On Oct. 5 the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding a case between the County Commissioners of Boulder County and Suncor Energy. 

Suing oil companies is a common thing but this lawsuit a bit different because the case centers on whether state/county/local governments can sue on the basis of climate change. 

A ruling was not issued as of press time – and actually isn’t expected until summer of next year. 

The lawsuit moved to the U.S. Supreme Court after Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled state common-law claims could proceed in state court without being blocked by federal law.

Climate change has been a debate for generations, even though the majority of climate scientists do state that the climate is changing due to human activities – like burning fossil fuels. There are still a small number who feel that either the climate isn’t changing, the changes are cyclical or believe nothing humans have done affects the climate. 

Oil company executives for years have been part of that denial and actually helped fuel [pun intended] the denial. 

“For decades, some members of the fossil fuel industry tried to convince the public that a causative link between fossil fuel use and climate warming could not be made because the models used to project warming were too uncertain. Supran et al. show that one of those fossil fuel companies, ExxonMobil, had [its] own internal models that projected warming trajectories consistent with those forecast by the independent academic and government models. What they understood about climate models thus contradicted what they led the public to believe,” according to science.org.

For a while some of the oil companies were working toward creating cleaner burning fuels and even alternative energy – but that doesn’t change the years of denial. 

Now, not everything that happens in our climate is due to humans causing an accelerated change; however, it is pretty certain that we have ignored our planet’s warning signs over and over again and now must reap what we sowed. 

The fact the Earth’s water, air and soil were being polluted was bad but now climate change is taking a toll in our pocketbooks – and that brings the situation to a whole new level of concern. 

The Colorado lawsuit asks who should bear the costs of climate impacts on the state. Presently the costs fall on the shoulders of taxpayers, but should it be them alone who pay for climate-related damages?

“Colorado is already experiencing more extreme heat, wildfires, drought and poor air quality, all of which create significant public costs. Since 2018, the lawsuit against ExxonMobil and Suncor has survived repeated attempts by the companies to move or dismiss it, clearing both a district court and the Colorado Supreme Court. Now the fossil fuel companies are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. The outcome carries local and national implications for climate accountability,” according to Boulder County. 

The lawsuit was filed against Suncor and ExxonMobil on April 17, 2018. There are similar lawsuits brought by other states, including California and New York. 

The County equates it to the lawsuits against the tobacco industry in the 1990s. 

“Since 1983, average temperatures in Colorado have risen more than 2 degrees F and are continuing to warm, according to a report from the University of Colorado – [creating] more heat waves, more destructive wildfires, more severe droughts and changing precipitation. These communities will likely experience more severe infestations of mountain pine beetles and other insects, reduced snowpack, earlier spring runoff from snow in the mountains, greater rainfall intensity and worse ground-level ozone. Climate change will affect fragile mountain ecosystems and hit at the heart of the local economy damaging roads, forests, homes, the agricultural sector, the ski industry and open space. Adapting to such a wide range of impacts requires local governments to undertake unprecedented levels of planning and spending,” according to Boulder County.

Boulder states that for over five decades the oil companies knew about the harm their products could cause and yet continued to do business as usual. 

“In 1968, a report from industry scientists warned these companies that ‘significant temperature changes are almost certain to occur by the year 2000’ due to rising GHGs [greenhouse gases] and that ‘the potential damage to our environment could be severe.’ By the 1970s, Suncor and Exxon knew with high certainty that their products were dangerous and that inaction would cause dramatic, or even catastrophic, changes to the climate. Exxon took measures to protect itself from climate change: for example, the company adapted its own facilities to protect from sea level rise. Yet Suncor and Exxon chose to conceal this knowledge from the public in order to continue promoting and selling fossil fuels. And worse, they both participated in efforts to spread doubt about climate change and discredit the scientific voices that they knew were telling the truth. This helped to delay the shift to a low-carbon economy by decades,” according to Boulder.

ExxonMobil and Suncor is asking for the Colorado case to be dismissed because they feel federal law preempts state court climate change claims. And they base this on the foundation of the Clean Air Act, and other federal environmental laws. 

July was the hottest month on record … ever … in the United States, according to NOAA. 

And this is since recorded dates that go back to 1895. 

The Earth is warming. El Niño is a common event; we have had El Niños in the past and we even have had super big ones, like the one currently expected. But this El Niño is making a bigger impact, especially along the coast due to the warming of the ocean and melting of the glaciers that create higher ocean waters … and then there’s the Kelvin wave so … yep, we are facing more and more extreme weather …and even if some of it is cyclical it is cyclical – on steroids. 

I remember talking to smokers who insisted that smoking cigarettes was not linked to cancer or other lung issues. I remember before my dad stopped smoking he was convinced that the campaign against smoking was not based in science. Then he quit and felt so much better – he was actually able to breathe. Suddenly he came to the realization that maybe the tobacco industry had been lying to everyone, that getting free Lucky Strike cigarettes when he joined the U.S. Air Force may have actually been a marketing ploy. He hated to think that a company would knowingly put people, especially service men and women, in jeopardy – but just maybe….

Maybe these lawsuits that show how much taxpayers are paying for climate change will bring an awareness not found before and maybe, like my dad, minds will be changed. 

The blue skies are expected to get a little cloudy as we head into end of the week. Rain is expected to begin Friday, starting with a little mist with most of the rain – predicted to be about 1/2 inch – hitting us on Friday night. We should be dry by Saturday afternoon and into Sunday, then another round of rain on Monday through Wednesday of next week, according to NOAA.

The snow levels will be pretty high due to this week’s rain but will drop during next week’s rains. 

Temperatures will be cool with highs into the mid 60s on Friday through Sunday and then dropping to low 60s on Monday and Tuesday.

From local resident Gregg Inboden: “As we all know there was no rainfall last week and none expected the rest of this week. Humidity very stable at 30.46. Winds are mostly calm with ‘gusts’ averaging 2-4 MPH at most.

  “Sunrise will be at 6:21 and sunset at 4:53; it is certainly getting darker earlier. The moon is in ‘new moon’ phase currently.”