RULING TO WATCH – SWITZERLAND VIOLATED HUMAN RIGHTS VIA CLIMATE POLICY: Europe’s top human rights court ruled today that the Swiss government has violated the rights of its citizens by failing to do enough to combat climate change—a landmark ruling that could inspire similar lawsuits in Europe and around the world.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rejected two similar cases brought forth yesterday by a group of young people in Portugal and the former mayor of a coastal town in France, underscoring the complexities of climate litigation cases that have cropped up in European and in U.S. courts.
But the 17-judge panel sided with Swiss petitioners—a group of more than 2,400 elderly women who argued that their government’s failure to combat global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions has undermined their health and put them at risk of dying during heatwaves.
The court agreed with that contention, citing what they described as “critical gaps” in Switzerland’s regulatory framework as well as the country’s failure to meet previous climate targets. This amounted to what the court said was a breach of the petitioners’ right to protection from “the serious adverse effects of climate change on lives, health, well-being and quality of life.”
The court also asserted that keeping global warming below the 1.5C limit set under the 2015 Paris climate agreement is part of human rights protections—a ruling that could have a ripple effect for other international courts.
“It is clear that future generations are likely to bear an increasingly severe burden of the consequences of present failures and omissions to combat climate change,” ECHR President Siofra O’Leary said in the ruling.
The Swiss justice ministry said it will implement the high court’s ruling—which is binding and has no right of appeal.
“Together with the authorities concerned, we will now analyze the extensive judgment and review what measures Switzerland will take in the future,” the ministry said in a statement.
Read more on the landmark decision here.
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NORFOLK SOUTHERN SETTLES EAST PALESTINE CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS: Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600 million to settle class action lawsuits stemming from last year’s train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio—which spewed more than one million pounds of toxic chemicals into nearby air and waterways and forced officials to order a controlled burn as they raced to avoid explosion.
Norfolk Southern said its settlement offer—which has been agreed to “in principle,” pending approval by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio—would resolve all class action lawsuits within a 20-mile radius of the derailment and personal injury claims of individuals living within a 10-mile radius of the derailment.
Last year’s derailment made national headlines and led to a renewed push for federal action on freight safety measures.
Last week, the Transportation Department finalized a new rule requiring all major freight railroads to maintain a minimum crew of two people per train, and Ohio’s congressional delegation has also introduced a bipartisan bill to strengthen rail safety requirements. Read more on that here.
EPA TIGHTENS POLLUTION STANDARDS FOR CHEMICAL PLANTS: The Environmental Protection Agency published a final rule today cracking down on toxic air pollution from chemical and plastics plants, seeking to reduce exposure to two cancer-linked chemical compounds, ethylene oxide and chloroprene, while also giving plant owners slightly more time to comply.
Once implemented, EPA officials said, the final rule will achieve a nearly 80% reduction in emissions from ethylene oxide (EtO) and chloroprene—two toxic compounds that are linked to certain types of cancers, including lymphoma, leukemia, breast cancer, and liver cancer.
EPA officials said the rule will slash 6,200 tons of toxic air pollution annually from chemical and plastics plants, reducing the number of people at elevated cancer risk from the air toxics by roughly 96%. It also extends reporting requirements to facilities that produce, store, or emit the toxins benzene, 1,3-butadiene, ethylene dichloride, and vinyl chloride, in addition to EtO and chloroprene.
Speaking to reporters on a call previewing the final rule, EPA officials touted the action as delivering on the Biden administration’s long-standing public health and environmental justice commitments, including the $60 billion environmental justice fund created by the Inflation Reduction Act, and delivering on the “Cancer Moonshot” initiative.
Why it matters: In announcing the actions, EPA Administrator Michael Regan recounted the trips he made in recent years to “Cancer Alley,” the 85-mile stretch of industrial land in Louisiana that earned the nickname due to high air pollution rates from nearby petrochemical plants and a cancer rate at least 50 times as high as the national average.
“Nearly every person I spoke to [there] knew someone who suffered from an illness connected to pollution from the air they breathed,” Regan recounted of his trips to the Louisiana parishes. “I promised to listen to folks that were suffering from this pollution and take action as an agency to protect them. I promised to prioritize the health and safety of this community and others’ lives that have been historically overburdened by air pollution.”
Remember: The EPA came under intense criticism in 2022 after it abruptly dropped its more than 12-month federal investigation into possible Title VI violations in Louisiana, in particular whether state officials had discriminated against black residents in their oversight of industrial pollution levels in the state.
Asked about that decision yesterday, EPA officials said the final rule is “unrelated” to the Louisiana inquiry, but will allow them to deliver on their broader commitment to protecting individuals in all communities threatened by toxic pollutants. Read more from Breanne here.
LAWSUIT AGAINST INTERIOR TAKES AIM AT GULF OF MEXICO DRILLING: The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit yesterday against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over a 2018 assessment they argue fails to comply with the Endangered Species Act – an assessment that’s been essential for upholding oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
The lawsuit, filed in the D.C. District Court, was issued against Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Wiliams, with the group arguing that the service is refusing to evaluate whether greenhouse gas emissions from federal agency actions are injuring or jeopardizing species.
The lawsuit takes a stab at a 2018 environmental assessment analyzing the effects of extensive Gulf of Mexico oil and gas activities. The assessment, the group says, “omits any analysis of the climate harms from offshore drilling.”
“The Biological Opinion’s silence on greenhouse gas pollution is unlawful,” the lawsuit reads. “The Opinion fails to quantify greenhouse gas emissions, ignores climate change as part of the environmental baseline, and, most importantly, omits analysis of the impacts of greenhouse gas pollution on threatened and endangered species and their critical habitat.”
The environmental assessment, they say, then fails to analyze and prevent harms to threatened and endangered species, including sea turtles, seabirds, beach mice, fish, and marine animals.
The lawsuit outlines that the 2018 assessment is also based on a 2008 memo that concludes that greenhouse gas emissions could never be considered an “effect” of an agency action, regardless of how many GHGs result from the action.
CONTINUED PRESSURE ON LNG: Criticisms and demands regarding the Energy Department’s LNG pause are still rolling in from across the political spectrum.
From the financial side: In his annual letter to shareholders, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon blasted the pause on liquified natural gas export terminals – arguing that it is an environmentally and geopolitically fraught policy that hampers the U.S.’ ability to supply allies with LNG.
In the letter, Dimon argues that the best way to reduce carbon emissions is to supply natural gas to countries that would otherwise turn to coal.
“When oil and gas prices skyrocketed last winter, nations around the world — wealthy and very climate-conscious nations like France, Germany and the Netherlands, as well as lower-income nations like Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam that could not afford the higher cost — started to turn back to their coal plants,” Dimon wrote. “This highlights the importance of safe, secure and affordable energy.”
The second part of his argument is that the pause has forced Japan, Korea, and Europe in the “difficult position” of having to turn to Iran, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, or even Russia for their LNG supply.
Note that BlackRock CEO Larry Fink advocated for a similar approach in his annual shareholder letter published in January, arguing for a focus on “energy pragmatism” that encompasses an all-of-the-above energy strategy.
But on the flip side: A number of environmental groups sent a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to broaden the review of gas exports, calling for the DOE to ensure that environmental justice, climate change, and energy prices were part of their review.
“We urge DOE to conduct a robust analysis that fully accounts for all impacts of LNG exports along the entire supply and delivery chain and objectively apply these results to future applications,” the letter reads. The groups underlined that it’s well within the authority of the DOE to deny permits under the Natural Gas Act when the harms of the facilities outweigh their benefits to the public. Read that here.
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