Supreme Court Opens Term With Oil Companies’ Bid to End Boulder Climate Lawsuit

The Supreme Court begins its new term Monday with a case that could decide whether oil companies can be made to pay in state courts for the local costs of climate change, a question with dozens of lawsuits riding on the answer.

In Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, local officials in Colorado are suing Canada-based Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil. Boulder County filed the case in 2018, arguing that the companies and a trade group knew decades ago that burning fossil fuels would raise the risk of floods, extreme heat and wildfire, misled the public about it, and should help cover the resulting costs to local taxpayers.

The lawsuit has not gone to trial and remains at an early stage in the Colorado courts. The companies are asking the justices to end it now, arguing that federal law preempts state-law claims about a global problem like climate change and that only the federal government has the authority and expertise to address it. The Trump administration has sided with the companies.

Supporters of the industry’s position say letting the case proceed would open the door to suits against thousands of other businesses. Sai Prakash, a University of Virginia law professor who filed a brief backing Suncor and Exxon, told NPR that Boulder is effectively trying to regulate energy production everywhere by attaching liability to it. The companies’ lawyers have argued that the issue belongs with lawmakers rather than juries.

Boulder and its allies frame the case as one about corporate honesty. Corey Riday-White, legal director of the Center for Climate Integrity, which supports communities bringing such suits, told NPR that companies that know they will cause harm and fail to disclose it should help clean it up. The county points to costs such as adapting to more frequent disasters; the Marshall Fire of December 2021 destroyed homes in nearby Louisville and Superior, though the lawsuit was filed before that blaze.

The stakes extend well beyond Colorado. If the court rules for the companies, the decision could knock out dozens of similar climate cases brought by state and local governments across the country, the Guardian reported. If the justices side with Boulder or decide the case is not properly before them, it would return to state court.

The math on the bench is unusual. Justice Samuel Alito has recused himself, leaving five conservative justices and three liberals to hear the case. Assuming the three liberals side with Boulder, the county would need only one conservative vote to prevail.

For the energy industry, the ruling will help determine whether climate liability lawsuits remain a live legal risk. The court’s new term runs about nine months, and a decision could come at any point before it ends.