So the question is, just how low will activists stoop? We predict that eventually Gina McCarthy will say “we are compelled by law to take stronger action”, just as Lisa Jackson did with Massachusetts vs EPA.
From RTCC:
This week a group of young Americans aged 8-19 filed a lawsuit against the US Federal Government to demand greater action on climate change.
The 21 young plaintiffs sought an order from the District Court of Oregon, requiring Obama to implement a national plan for the reduction of atmospheric concentrations of CO2 to 350 ppm by the year 2100.
This is in line with the international target to keep warming below 2 degrees on pre-industrial levels.
The Complaint, submitted on Wednesday to to coincide with International Youth Day, further accuses Obama and the Federal Government of knowingly risking “harm to human life, liberty and property” through intensive fossil fuel use.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF OREGON
EUGENE DIVISION
Plaintiffs include amongst the many and their guardians:
SOPHIE K., through her Guardian Dr. James Hansen;
EARTH GUARDIANS, a nonprofit organization; and FUTURE GENERATIONS, through their Guardian Dr. James Hansen
vs.
The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA;
BARACK OBAMA, in his official capacity as President of the United States;
The OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES;
CHRISTY GOLDFUSS, in her official capacity as Director of Council on Environmental Quality;
SHAUN DONOVAN, in his official capacity as Director of the Office of Management and Budget;
DR. JOHN HOLDREN, in his official capacity as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy;
The UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY;
DR. ERNEST MONIZ, in his official capacity as Secretary of Energy;
The UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR;
SALLY JEWELL, in her official capacity as Secretary of Interior;
The UNITEDSTATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION;
ANTHONY FOXX, in his official capacity as Secretary of Transportation;
The UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE;
THOMAS J. VILSACK, in his official capacity as Secretary of Agriculture;
The UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE;
PENNY PRITZKER, in her official capacity as Secretary of Commerce;
The UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE;
ASHTON CARTER, in his official capacity as Secretary of Defense;
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE;
JOHN KERRY, in his official capacity as Secretary of State;
The UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY;
GINA MCCARTHY, in her official capacity as Administrator of the EPA;
For over fifty years, the United States of America has known that carbon dioxide (“CO2”) pollution from burning fossil fuels was causing global warming and dangerous climate change, and that continuing to burn fossil fuels would destabilize the climate system on which present and future generations of our nation depend for their wellbeing and survival. Defendants also knew the harmful impacts of their actions would significantly endanger Plaintiffs, with the damage persisting for millennia. Despite this knowledge, Defendants continued their policies and practices of allowing the exploitation of fossil fuels.
Sources:
http://www.rtcc.org/2015/08/14/8-year-old-takes-us-government-to-court-over-climate-change/
Case 6:15-cv-01517-TC Document 1 Filed 08/12/15
h/t to Dennis Ambler
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I bet this suit moves faster than Mann v. Steyn.
Somebody should explain Social Security to them.
They need to sue for mental anguish from all of the lies they have been told. It really is approaching mental illness.
“and that continuing to burn fossil fuels would destabilize the climate system on which present and future generations of our nation depend for their wellbeing and survival. ”
Somebody should tell these kids that their wellbeing and survival up to now is based on burning fossil fuels.
Without that they would possible not be. They are very welcome to stop using these fossil fuels and all that’s dependent on it. Why wait for the court, it can only be too slow.
Another sue and settle gambit?
These types need to stay in the news in order to make more money. Which Swiss chalet is he looking at now.
Does this include sniffing glue and e-cigs?
Next question: Who’s paying for the lawsuit?
(I’m sure it’s not Al Gore. He loves Green too much to part part with it.)
So what evidence does anyone have that 350 ppm and 2 degrees have ANY correlation with each other whatsoever?
@JJ, too.
http://350.org/about/science/
He asked what evidence. and you link to 350.org.. roflmao !!!
TOWARDS 700ppm aCO2 !!!… The world will rejoice. 🙂
I didn’t see Richard Windsor’s name as a defendant!! /sarc
There has been a similar law suit in the Netherlands.
http://www.urgenda.nl/en/climate-case/
The court in 1st instance ruled in favour of the plaintiffs, but it is likely that the Dutch State will appeal this decision.
The interesting question from a legal perspective, is whether the court can demand greater action from a government based on a request of one or a couple of individuals. If yes, this will open a can of worms. Everybody could start a case against the State to demand something.
Interesting times!
Is this an opportunity to challenge the EPA “Endangerment Finding” and force EPA to release the “secret data” that proves CO2 (and warming) is harmful?
This may be the “Discovery” event I have been anticipating.
“So, kids, you going to give up all those energy wasting appliances? You know, your TV, your computer, your Xbox . . . “
Are all sharp objects removed from one’s hands and pockets? Has all food been properly swallowed? Is there no water or more interesting liquids in anybody’s mouth? Is everybody properly seated? Because our legal system has become so stupendously silly as to allow the U.S. government to become sued on behalf of a god. And, no, the god is not Obama. Ready? Let’s take it away:
‘Plaintiff Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh M., by and through his guardian and mother Tamara Roske-Martinez, is a 15-year-old citizen of the U.S. … For nine years, Xiuhtezcatl has advocated for reductions in CO2 emissions before local, state, federal, and international governmental bodies, including … before the United Nations, and … President of the United States. …’
Are we getting warmed up? It’s nice to know that Xiuhtezcatl (sounds like an Aztec God, eh? We will see.) has been engaged in political lobbying since the age of 6 [(six), (1+1+1+1+1+1 birthdays)]: a number that he probably had difficulty counting to at the time. And, it’s nice to know that this lobbying (starting at the age of 6) was not about such pertinent issues for a six year old (1+1+1+1+1+1 years) as stopping frequently on a trip to satisfy potty needs (bye pooh; bye; say goodbye to the pooh); or moving from a tricycle to training wheels on a two wheeler; or being tucked in properly in the evening; or complaining that Uncle Joe (guess who that is) is too scary when he plays Frankenstein. No, no, no, this lobbying effort initiated at the age of six years (1+1+1+1+1+1 birthdays – ok, I’ll stop repeating that) was not about those silly frivolities. It was about a molecule in the atmosphere (two words of which he probably couldn’t have even pronounced at the time). But, let’s get to the god part:
’21. Of Aztec descent, Xiuhtezcatl engages in sacred indigenous spiritual and cultural practices to honor and protect the Earth. Xiuhtezcatl has suffered harm to his spiritual and cultural practices from Defendants’ actions. …’
Ok, now my mother was goofy. That’s not a criticism, just an observation. I mean, anybody looking at me would automatically recognize that anybody who produced Tom Judd would have to be goofy. But, I thank my lucky stars that my mother wasn’t so goofy as to put me, at the age of six (1+1+1+1+1+1 birthdays), in front of heads of state so I could regurgitate exactly what she told me to regurgitate and to regurgitate things I could not properly have understood at the time. I thank my lucky stars that my mother wasn’t such a wack job as to think she could live vicariously through my body which happened to be a separate entity than her’s. I thank my lucky stars that my mother didn’t ludicrously think she was preparing me for adulthood by ramrodding an interest in rituals appeasing gods that no sane person still believes exists. And, I thank my lucky stars that no matter how much my parents ruthlessly embarrassed me as I was growing up I can at least find solace in knowing that someone else had a parents that embarrassed them even more.
Whoa, be unto these guardians. I think, instead of being afraid of CO2, we need to be afraid of guardians.
and now as parents ourselves …
my “kids” laugh at this farce while I tell them, “keep your hands on your wallets”
Excuse me, but since when has the United States of America been a sentient, individual being, capable of “knowing” anything? And how do they plan to prove what it knew or didn’t know 50 years ago? The people living in it today certainly do not agree on what can be known, proven regarding fossil fuel caused warming! The IPCC changes what it “knows” in every report!
Oregon, way to foster critical thinkers!
Pot’s legal in Oregon. They now know lots of things that ain’t so.
Wrong state.
Recreational pot is legal in WA and CO. Not in Oregon. Medical usage is legal.
Then unless Medical Marijuana is strictly inforced as a prescription drug under pharmacy rules, it is essentially legal. The police aren’t going to even try to prosecute anyone unless the get caught doing something crazy stupid like transporting tons of it or hand it out on a playground.
timg56, thank you for the correction but schitzree has a point.
It is legal for rec use. It is not legal to sell yet … October. It was going to be next year per the original rule, but the good legislature thought it was important to get legal access sooner and moved the date up a few months.
@Aphan
You say: “The people living in it today certainly do not agree on what can be known, proven regarding fossil fuel caused warming!”
Oh really: http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/
They seem to have missed the CO2 line in the graph, at least showing correlation. Is there a reason for that?
Would make more sense to sue them over cutting beneficial CO2 emissions since:
Sunshine +H2O +CO2 +Minerals = O2 +Sugars(food)
But then, I guess we need to keep CO2 and temperatures fixed at the low level that they were at before humans started burning fossil fuels………..because a group of all knowing humans has decided for all of life on this planet, what the perfect level of CO2 and temperature is………and how we should obtain it.
@Mike Maguire
You ask “what the perfect level of CO2 and temperature is………”
And “how we should obtain it….”
Your answers:
http://350.org/about/science/ , and
http://citizensclimatelobby.org/carbon-fee-and-dividend/
absolutely the first place we all should go for science counseling is 350 dot orgy
I enjoy this line from the 350.org site: ‘Mosquitoes, who like a warmer world, are spreading into lots of new places, …’ Perhaps that intellectual from the 350.org site should visit the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where he/she would discover that mosquitoes are so abundant that they can literally suck a pint of blood out of a ‘delicate’ caribou on a daily basis. Last time I checked the Arctic wasn’t a warmer part of the world.
Simpletons.
The 350.org position seems to be that similar to venial sin being the damnation of the soul, CO2 is the damnation of the planet. Right. Whatever.
While they are stupid enough to claim the perfect CO2 concentration is 350 PPM they at least have not gone so stupid as to claim to know the perfect temperature.
BTW why does their writing style seem to be that of a parent speaking to a 12 year old? I guess there is a populace of adults that like being treated like a child, but it is surprising since many a 12 year old readily know when an adult is full of hot air instead of substance.
warrenlb,
From your 2nd link:
“As long as fossil fuels remain artificially cheap and profitable, their use will rise. Correcting this market failure requires their price to account for their true social costs.”
Yes, let us consider the TRUE social costs/benefits:
“The positive externalities of carbon dioxide by Dr. Craig Idso, Center for the study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change”
http://www.co2science.org/education/reports/co2benefits/MonetaryBenefitsofRisingCO2onGlobalFoodProduction.pdf
“The Social Benefit of Carbon: $3.5 Trillion in Agricultural Productivity over the past 50 years. Projecting this monetary into the future is likely to bestow an additional $9.8 trillion between now and 2050.”
Based on the real world, maybe we should be PAYING entities that emit this beneficial carbon dioxide.
warrenlib,
Thanks for the link. Was done by the National Lampoon or the Daily Onion?
Wrong target…..They should be going the oil companies.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/02/17/epas-secret-and-costly-sue-and-settle-collusion-with-environmental-organizations/
Follow the money. The case will be settled out of court.. However, the Federal Government will agree to pay the plaintiffs legal fees. Quite a scam.
@Walt D.
You say: “…The case will be settled out of court…”
Maybe, maybe not:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/24/hague-climate-change-judgement-could-inspire-a-global-civil-movement
Regardless of whether the Hague has jurisdiction or the judgement has any practical significance or whether the Dutch government ignores them or appeals the decision for more political theater, it is completely irrelevant to the collusion between the EPA and environmental organizations.
It’s like bringing up the smell of lavender soap in a discussion about farm tractors.
Speaking of smell, the smell of the collusion between the EPA and environmental organizations is worse than the smell of a toxic waste dump. Oh to go back to the simple days when the EPA cleaned up toxic waste instead of releasing it into rivers.
@Alx
You say: “Regardless of whether the Hague has jurisdiction or the judgement has any practical significance or whether the Dutch government ignores them or appeals the decision for more political theater, it is completely irrelevant to the collusion between the EPA and environmental organizations.”
But not irrelevant to the question posed: ‘Will the case be settled out of court, or not”
warren,
your understanding of the law equals your understanding about climate change.
This case should not be settled out of court. It should be thrown out of court. If these people want to act like morons, talk like morons, and be morons, they have every right to do so. But they have no right whatsoever to expect me to do so or to pay so much as one single penny for them to be so. It’s really time for taxpayers to begin to rebel against this crap. If the judge doesn’t throw this case out of court throw the judge out of court. By the ears.
Could this be the reason behind his scorched Earth approach to climate science?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/science/earth/29climate.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
At some point Hansen left science behind, falling in love with political activism. At that time NASA was not resisting his science, but instead his acting as a half-baked political hack and thereby abusing his relationship with NASA.
Nine years later and he is still half-baked political hack or maybe he has graduated to full fledged deluded incompetent fool.
He left science behind before he made his famous stage play to the Senate.
They should be suing for the economic damages to their future wealth caused by excessive government borrowing to fund climate boondoggles like wind and solar projects (Solyndra, to name one). A reality, not myth.
I think they should sue the IPCC and its many co-defendants (Hansen being one) who are committing fraud against the developed world by subverting science for the purpose of extorting money to be used for redistributive economics under the guise of climate reparations.
I think Mr Hansen should travel to malls across the united states, going up to children and telling them, their government is putting their lives at risk and most liking causing a horrible death to them and their friends. He could be very successful, right up to the point an irate father takes him aside and pummels him or the police arrest him for harassing minors.
Its more of the same BS used to dramatized rising CO2. Watchdog.org just interviewed me about this
http://watchdog.org/234254/kids-environmental-lawsuits/
good work though fighting against the current and probably knowing they’d give Julia Olson the last word
as a scientist (retired) and particularly as a parent, I find this revolting –
http://ourchildrenstrust.org/
“One of the plaintiffs is the granddaughter of James Hansen, former director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and an outspoken environmental advocate who in 2009 said, “Climate change is analogous to Lincoln and slavery or Churchill and Nazism: it’s not the kind of thing where you can compromise.”
The part about Nazism is correct but they are the Nazi’s………..focusing on brainwashing the public with exaggerated propaganda rooted in speculative theories that are not verifying. Distorting the effects of a beneficial gas, calling it pollution, while vilifying others that use the scientific method in being skeptical.
“The science is settled!” “The debate is over!” Those that disagree are “Deniers” and “Flat earthers”
I would like to know who are paying the legal fees etc.
Remember Follow the money and it leads to who gains!
cheers
Roger
http://www.thedemiseofchristchurch.com
Hansen is beyond repulsive using unknowing children as pawns in his lust to send the U.S. and the rest of the fossil-fuel using world back to the Middle Ages when people had a life expectancy of 35 years and for the most part were subsistence farmers. He claims to be for nuclear power but based on his actions, is paying lip-service at best.
Looks like Steyn’s description of the US legal system as a toilet and septic tank are on the mark. Truly a place where anyone can sue anyone else over anything and then have it drag on for maybe decades just to keep the mostly corrupt lawyers in business. And since ~90% of congress ARE lawyers, not likely to change.