Press Releases
June 24, 2024
BOULDER, CO — The City and County of Boulder, Colorado, are one major step closer to putting ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy on trial to make the companies pay for climate damages they knowingly caused following a court ruling on Friday.
A Colorado state court judge denied nearly all of Exxon and Suncor Energy’s motions to dismiss Boulder’s 2018 lawsuit, finding that public nuisance, private nuisance, trespass, conspiracy, and unjust enrichment claims against the companies can proceed toward discovery and trial in state court.
Judge Robert R. Gunning rejected the companies’ efforts to mischaracterize the case as an attempt to litigate climate policy, finding instead that Boulder’s efforts to hold the companies accountable for the costs of their deception is appropriate for state court.
“Through this action, the Local Governments are not attempting to litigate a policy solution to global climate change, limit fossil fuel use or production, or control greenhouse gas emissions.”
Instead, Gunning wrote, Boulder officials argue that Exxon and Suncor “have altered the climate by producing, selling, and promoting fossil fuels at levels they knew would bring catastrophic harm to Colorado. They further allege that the Energy Companies accelerated the pace and exacerbated the harm by concealing and misrepresenting the dangers of unchecked fossil fuel consumption to increase their sales. The consequences of these actions have led to an altered climate with concomitant costs in the Local Governments’ jurisdictions.”
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement:
“The people of Boulder are now one crucial step closer to having their day in court to hold Exxon and Suncor accountable for their climate lies and the massive damages they’ve caused. Courts across the country keep rejecting Big Oil’s attempts to escape justice for their climate deception, and sooner or later these companies will have to explain the evidence of their misconduct to a jury.”
Alyssa Johl, vice president of legal and general counsel for the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement:
“Exxon and other fossil fuel companies keep trying to mischaracterize lawsuits like Boulder’s as something they’re not. Judge Gunning’s ruling is the latest to thoroughly reject those arguments and make clear that these claims can and should proceed in state court. Boulder is not seeking to set policy or limit emissions — they’re seeking to hold companies accountable for the costs of their well-documented deception.”
Status of State and Local Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil
The attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia, as well as dozens of municipal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Puerto Rico, and two tribal governments, have filed lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change.
Boulder now joins a growing number of states and communities — including Honolulu, Hawai`i, and Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, Maryland, as well as the States of Massachusetts and Delaware — whose climate deception lawsuits against major oil and gas companies have prevailed against motions to dismiss from Exxon and other defendants.
A Colorado state court will hear arguments against a separate lawsuit that San Miguel County brought against Exxon and Suncor later this year. Several other lawsuits — including those from the City of Baltimore and the State of New Jersey — are awaiting similar rulings on the defendants’ motions to dismiss.