Tackling Climate Alarmists’ Nuisance Lawsuits

O.H. Skinner writes for RealClearPolicy about climate alarmists’ negative impact on a “pro-consumer agenda.”

Consumers have been crying out for relief from the endless assault on their ability to buy their preferred household appliances, as opposed to only the ones preferred by the friends and constituents of officials like Nancy Pelosi.  The last thing consumers wanted was the federal government wiping the majority of the current washing machines or freezers off the market, much less an assault on gas stoves and traditional gas vehicles. Most of us know that life is simply better when consumers in coastal enclaves can buy an expensive electric car alongside a pricey induction stove and a dishwasher that takes three hours, while everyday consumers in the rest of America have the option of buying a traditional car, gas stove, and a dishwasher that works.

But there is a real, ongoing threat to Washington’s new consumer agenda lingering in the states, and it runs a risk of allowing left-wing activists to once more reach into kitchens, bathrooms, and garages nationwide and dictate what products are available to consumers far from the coastal enclaves where left-wing elites usually congregate.

The threat lies in the ongoing series of public nuisance lawsuits over climate change that far-left local governments and activists are pushing in state courts in places like Oregon, Maryland, and California. …

… These climate change cases are particularly dangerous because they typically feature a county or city claiming that global climate change has caused them billions of dollars of damage and then asking for a court order that will force energy company defendants to undo the effects of climate change—“abate the nuisance,” in the lingo of the lawsuits—by not only handing over billions for left-wing policy priorities, but also changing behavior nationwide and conforming to left-wing energy policy.  … These lawsuits are an organized effort to effectively ban disfavored products and activities all across the country, under the premise that any carbon production anywhere in America increases global climate change and affects the plaintiff city or county.

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