{"id":16190,"date":"2016-04-09T20:21:39","date_gmt":"2016-04-10T00:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=16190"},"modified":"2016-04-09T20:21:39","modified_gmt":"2016-04-10T00:21:39","slug":"federal-court-rules-fossil-fuels-violate-constitutional-rights-2016-04-08","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2016\/04\/federal-court-rules-fossil-fuels-violate-constitutional-rights-2016-04-08.html","title":{"rendered":"Federal court rules fossil fuels violate constitutional rights 2016-04-08"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nOur Children’s Trust, Press Release, 9 April 2016,\r\n\r\nJudge Denies Motions by Fossil Fuel Industry and Federal Government in Landmark Climate Change Case<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nToday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin of the federal District\r\nCourt in Eugene, OR, decided in favor of 21 young Plaintiffs, and\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nDr. James Hansen on behalf of future generations, in their landmark\r\nconstitutional climate change case brought against the federal\r\ngovernment and the fossil fuel industry. The Court’s ruling is a\r\nmajor victory for the 21 youth Plaintiffs, ages 8-19, from across\r\nthe U.S. in what Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein call the “most\r\nimportant lawsuit on the planet right now.” These plaintiffs\r\nsued the federal government for violating their constitutional\r\nrights to life, liberty and property, and their right to essential\r\npublic trust resources, by permitting, encouraging, and otherwise\r\nenabling continued exploitation, production, and combustion of\r\nfossil fuels.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nFull\r\npress release<\/a>\r\nand court order<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n

\r\nIn denying the motions of the federal government and the fossil fuel\r\nindustry, the court’s decision framed the issue as follows:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“Plaintiffs are suing the United States … because the\r\ngovernment has known for decades that carbon dioxide (C02) pollution\r\nhas been causing catastrophic climate change and has failed to take\r\nnecessary action to curtail fossil fuel emissions. Moreover,\r\n\r\n\r\nplaintiffs allege that the government and its agencies have taken\r\naction or failed to take action that has resulted in increased\r\ncarbon pollution through fossil fuel extraction, production,\r\nconsumption, transportation, and exportation. Plaintiffs allege the\r\ncurrent actions and omissions of defendants make it extremely\r\ndifficult for plaintiffs to protect their vital natural systems and\r\na livable world. Plaintiffs assert the actions and omissions of\r\ndefendants that increased C02 emissions ‘shock the conscience,’ and\r\nare infringing the plaintiffs’ right to life and liberty in\r\nviolation of their substantive due process rights.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThe court’s decision also upheld the youth plaintiffs’ claims in the\r\nFifth and Ninth Amendments “by denying them protections\r\nafforded to previous generations and by favoring short term economic\r\ninterests of certain citizens.” Judge Coffin upheld\r\nplaintiffs’ assertion of violations under the public trust doctrine,\r\nruling that there is a federal public trust and plaintiffs’ claim\r\ncan proceed.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nCode of Justinian, 530 AD:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“By the law of nature these things are common to mankind\r\n— the air, running water, the sea….”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAll these things are already damaged and under further and increasing threat\r\nfrom climate change caused by burning fossil fuels.\r\n

\r\nWe didn’t tax PCBs or DDT: we banned them.\r\nWe need to do the same with fossil fuels.\r\n

\r\nWho will do that?\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“When those in power stand alongside the very industries that\r\nthreaten the future of my generation instead of standing with the\r\npeople, it is a reminder that they are not our leaders,”\r\nXiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh Martinez, one of the youth plaintiffs and youth\r\ndirector of\r\n\r\nEarth Guardians<\/a>, said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“The real leaders are the twenty youth standing with me in\r\ncourt to demand justice for my generation and justice for all youth.\r\nWe will not be silent, we will not go unnoticed, and we are ready to\r\nstand to protect everything our “leaders” have failed to\r\nfight for. They are afraid of the power we have to create change.\r\nAnd this change we are creating, will go down in history.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWe the people.\r\n

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