[Hac-announce] Global Warming Legal Brief

[Dan Blinn]

A group of leading climate scientists have filed an amicus (friend of court) brief with the United States Supreme Court in which they urge the court to side with a number of states (including Connecticut) . Here is a link to the brief, which is VERY readable even for a reader without without a legal or scientific background.

http://www.publicjustice.net/Repository/Files/AEPvCTScience-AmicusSupportingStates.pdf

And, here is a description of the case and the brief from Public Justice, a public interest law firm that represents the scientists:


Climate change deniers may have created confusion among the public, but in a court of law, facts matter.
 
That's why Public Justice has filed an amicus brief in a key U.S. Supreme Court case on behalf of the foremost climate change scientists in the country, including Mario Molina, who received the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his role in showing how chlorofluorocarbons damage the Earth's ozone layer.  
 
Likening the scale, momentum and long response time of climate change to a huge supertanker, the scientists warn that "the planet is headed toward a shipwreck" and that "evasive action" and emission reductions "to reduce the throttle" are essential.
 
The case involves several states that want to restrict carbon dioxide emissions from six electric power companies and the Tennessee Valley Authority, who are jointly responsible for 10% of carbon dioxide emissions from the United States.  The states claim that carbon dioxide emissions from the plants contribute to global warming, thereby creating a public nuisance under federal law.
 
The defendants claim that the states do not have standing because not enough is known about the emissions to warrant the proposed restrictions, but our brief demonstrates that there is no scientific uncertainty about the warming effects of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide; that the power plants threaten substantial harm to communities in the six plaintiff states; and that the benefits of reduced emissions would be significant.  Thus, the classic test for standing is met.



Dan Blinn
Consumer Law Group
35 Cold Spring Rd, Suite 512
Rocky Hill, CT  06067

860 571-0408,x101
fax: 860 571-7457

www.consumerlawgroup.com

dblinn at consumerlawgroup.com