The U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed a group of young Americans to proceed with their lawsuit claiming the federal government has failed to take what they believe to be necessary action to prevent climate control, a posting on nola.com said.
The Supreme Court issued the decision Nov. 2 on the suit filed in 2015 by the 21 plaintiffs represented by the group Our Children's Trust, the posting said.
Two of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Erin and Jayden Foytlin, siblings and Louisiana residents, who have been involved in climate-related issues. In January 2017, the two spoke at a rally prior to a hearing concerning the Bayou Bridge Pipeline.
The state of Louisiana has recently been the scene of many climate-related lawsuits, such as the series filed against the energy companies alleging coastal erosion damage is due to operations at the plants.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the federal government are between the ages of 11 and 22 and the goal of their lawsuit is to convince the government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are believed to contribute to climate change, as well as reduce extraction of fossil fuel across the nation.
Jim Harris, executive director of the Louisiana Coalition for Common Sense, said that he hopes the lawsuit does not proceed any further.
"The lawsuit is now back in the hands of the lower courts and hopefully those courts will demand specificity in the suits so it then will be dismissed. If it is not dismissed in the lower courts, hopefully the Supreme Court will get tired of dealing with it and dismiss it," Harris told the Louisiana Record.
Our Children's Trust has specifically called for the government to "cease their violation of plaintiffs' rights, prepare an accounting of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, and prepare and implement an enforceable national remedial plan to cease the constitutional violations by phasing out fossil fuel emissions and drawing down atmospheric CO2."