A lawsuit by several California youth against the Environmental Protection Agency, claiming their constitutional rights have been violated by carbon dioxide emissions, was dismissed in a federal appeals court judge last week.
District Court Judge Michael Fitzgerald of the Central District of California dismissed Genesis v. Environmental Protection Agency.
The lead plaintiff in the case, “Genesis B,” was a 17-year-old Long Beach, Calif. girl whose parents said they could not afford air conditioning.
“On many days, Genesis must wait until the evening to do schoolwork when temperatures cool down enough for her to be able to focus,” the lawsuit said.
According to FastCompany, Alaska leads the states in terms of homes without air conditioning, but 28% of California homes also don’t have AC:
- Alaska (7%)
- Washington (53%)
- Hawaii (57%)
- Montana (65%)
- Vermont (67%)
- Maine (70%)
- Wyoming (71%)
- California (72%)
The Genesis lawsuit was similar to Juliana v. EPA, dismissed a few days prior, in which the lawyers claimed the federal government is constitutionally required to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The plaintiffs cited the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause.
The Juliana case, with 21 young people that included Nathan Baring, a third-generation Alaskan, said the government “willfully ignored” dangers posed by fossil fuels, which violated the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to life, liberty and property. That case was also dismissed on May 1, and the judge said Genesis was not materially different.
But in the Genesis case, Judge Fitzgerald granted the plaintiffs the ability to amend their complaint, and Our Children’s Trust immediately said it would do so without delay.
In Alaska in 2022, the Alaska Supreme Court upheld the Superior Court’s dismissal of a lawsuit brought by young Alaska Natives and their lawyers, which alleged the State of Alaska’s development of its natural resources contributed to climate change and thus was a violation of the Alaska Constitution’s natural resources provisions and their own individual constitutional rights.
Another youth lawsuit in Montana went in favor of the environmentalists, but is being appealed.
