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Making Fossil Fuels Pay for Their Damage

Legal Planet

Production and combustion of fossil fuels imposes enormous costs on society, which the industry doesn’t pay for. One option, a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, gets the most attention but seems politically impossible. The closest we’ve ever come to a carbon tax is a limited fee on methane emissions under the new IRA law.

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US States and Communities are Suing the Fossil Fuel Industry: Six Things You Need to Know 

Union of Concerned Scientists

In an important win for climate accountability in the United States, the US Supreme Court decided that lawsuits filed in Colorado, Maryland, California, Hawai’i, and Rhode Island against fossil fuel companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, Suncor, and others will remain in state courts.

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Ask A Scientist: How Can Scientists Drive Change Through Climate Lawsuits? 

Union of Concerned Scientists

As the climate crisis deepens, so does the urgency to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for decades of deception. As the fossil fuel industry spares no expense to obscure these truths, the work of scientists who engage with climate litigation is increasingly vital. Who did you look to for guidance and to learn from?

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Making Polluters Pay for Climate Consequences

Legal Planet

These bills are designed to function similarly to the federal Superfund law, which allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to seek funds retroactively from polluters to clean up contaminated sites. The state is currently in the process of creating the framework and methodology for implementing this new law.

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Can International Law Save the Planet from Climate Change?

Union of Concerned Scientists

When diplomacy needs backup, countries turn to resolve their disputes at the ICJ, the United Nations’ principal judicial organ, to set the tone for international law. As an advisory body, the court provides legal opinions on international law questions. What is an advisory opinion?

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Mine Cleanup Law Weakened By Coal’s Decline

Circle of Blue

Coal mine reclamation has become a flashpoint in the partisan divide over fossil fuel use. Coal mine cleanup law is still built for the industry’s roaring ’70s. So in August of 1977, when the nation’s coal mine cleanup law went into effect, it reflected the market’s optimism. A Political Quagmire.

Law 276
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Environmental Law Again Front-and-Center at California Supreme Court

Legal Planet

Monterey County Oil Field (credit: Monterey County Weekly) For the first two decades of this century, and under the able leadership of former Chief Justices Ronald George and Tani Cantil-Sakauye, the California Supreme Court was quite active in interpreting and shaping California environmental law. Well, break’s over.

Law 264