Steve Marshall, the attorney general of Alabama, is up against what he calls “an effort by environmentalists to control energy policy in this country.”
Twenty attorneys general from across the country, including Marshall, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved in the city of Honolulu’s case against big oil companies for misleading the public about their role in climate change.
The case is now being heard by the Hawaii Supreme Court, but Marshall wants the U.S. Supreme Court to make a decision right away because it could have big effects on how energy is produced across the country.
Marshall said in the brief, “This Court needs to step in right now. There is no constitutional power for a state to limit the sale and use of traditional energy everywhere.”
Marshall talked about the problem on Fox Business as well.
It was a trial judge in Hawaii who made the claims in the Hawaii case, Marshall said. “They are trying to control energy policy across our country through the vehicle.” “Clearly, that’s not what the people of Alabama want, and it’s also not how our country is set up to make decisions about energy policy across the whole country.”
The AG thinks the case is “meant to do two things in particular.” One is giving out too many damages awards, which are essentially a tax on carbon. But maybe even more important is to let the court tell the fossil fuel companies how they should run their businesses through injunctive relief. In addition to being against Alabama law, that goes against the duty of care that those companies have to their shareholders.
Marshall said that this is just another move to use the courts to impose new green energy rules instead of going through the legislative process.
“In the age of ESG, one of the things my coworkers did push back on very strongly,” he said. “How do you think they can use access to capital to try to push an environmental agenda that they can’t get through the people?” This case in Hawaii and others like it that have been made across the country are another way for the left to try to force a Green New Deal.
