San Francisco Frontiers - US Supreme Court sides with Chevron in environmental case

The court, in an 8-0 ruling, said a lawsuit against Chevron over damage done to coastal wetlands in Louisiana through crude oil production during World War II can be moved from state court to federal court.

A state jury in Louisiana ordered Chevron last year to pay $745 million to help restore the wetlands.

Chevron appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the company was acting as a federal contractor to the US military at the time and the case should be heard in federal court and not state court.

The Supreme Court agreed.

"Congress has long authorized federal officers and their agents to remove suits brought against them in state court to federal court," Justice Clarence Thomas said. "This suit implicates acts by Chevron that are closely connected to the performance of its federal duties."

Federal courts have traditionally been less accommodating than state courts to lawsuits seeking to hold fossil fuel producers liable for environmental damage, including that caused by climate change.

In February, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case brought by oil and gas companies seeking to block climate change lawsuits.

Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy (USA) are appealing a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that a climate change lawsuit filed by the city and county of Boulder, Colorado should be allowed to proceed in state court.

The energy giants argue that such claims should be heard in federal -- not state -- court and that federal environmental laws should apply.

Many of the climate change lawsuits filed against oil and gas giants by state and local authorities are modeled on successful legal actions taken against the tobacco industry in the 1990s.

None have yet gone to trial.

F.Young--SFF