FlaSoxxJim Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 Eight States, NYC sue utilities over global warming About a year ago in a back and forth over global climate change, our attempts to gut Kyoto, and the administration's general myopic backing of industry at the expense of environmental public health I suggested litigation was likely the next avenue for trying to get US utilities companies to cut emissions. The Attorneys General from eight states and New York City are bringing the suit, so it is not going to be as readily dismissed as an earth-hugger excercise as it would if it were Greenpeace, Sierra, etc. It will be an uphill battle to win the precident-setting suit, and as the industry folks say in the article it is tough to successfully single out a handful of big industries and hold them accountable for global warming. The same lkinds of lawyers who successfully used statistics for years to protect Big Tobacco by stressing that you can't prove any single case of lung disease was caused by smoking will be called on to defend the utilities here I'm sure. In the end, though, Big Tobacco wasn't bulletproof as we all know. Win or lose, I'm sure more suits will follow. Hopefully this triggers global suits as well. And hopefully that starts the WTO looking at the global economic losses due to the industrialized world's ignoring the problem and taking appropriate action. Kyoto Version 1 represented the merest baby steps we should have taken as the world's leader in greenhouse emissions; KV2 is almost laughable in how short it falls of where the industrialized world really needs to get, and we wouldn't even sign on to that draft. It will get interesting for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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