Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit with 18 other states against California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island at the United States Supreme Court to halt policies they claim threaten Missouri energy.
General Bailey asserts that the defendants have brought unprecedented pressure against the nation’s most vital energy companies for an alleged “climate crisis,” demanding billions of dollars in damages. California and the other states threatened to impose ruinous penalties and coercive remedies that would affect energy and fuel consumption and production across the country. The states highlight the constitutional problems with California’s tactics and ask the Supreme Court to take up the multi-state lawsuit.
“I will always fight to put Missouri consumers first, which includes protecting Missouri energy when it comes under attack by other states,” said Attorney General Bailey. “California and its counterparts are working to upend our economy with their unconstitutional climate agenda. My office will not allow a state with zero respect for the rule of law to dictate how Missourians live their lives.”
The Supreme Court will decide whether to hear the 19-state lawsuit against California and the other four proposed defendants. General Bailey and the coalition argue that traditional energy sources like oil, natural gas, and coal are essential for American prosperity but are being targeted by the five states. Bailey also asserts that the matter is of utmost importance because federalism gives each state no more power than any other state.
“Defendant states want a global carbon tax on the traditional energy industry. Citing fears of a climate catastrophe, they seek massive penalties, disgorgement, and injunctive relief against energy producers based on out-of-state conduct with out-of-state effects. In their view, a small gas station in rural Alabama could owe damages to the people of Minnesota simply for selling a gallon of gas. If defendant states are right about the substance and reach of state law, their actions imperil access to affordable energy everywhere and inculpate every state and indeed every person on the planet. Consequently, defendant states threaten not only our system of federalism and equal sovereignty among states, but our basic way of life,” the attorneys general noted.
Joining Missouri in filing the suit are Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
