Eight young people are suing the government of Alaska, the nation’s fastest-warming state, claiming a major new fossil fuel project violates their state constitutional rights.
The state’s Alaska Gas Development Corporation has proposed a $38.7 billion gas export project that would roughly triple the state’s greenhouse gas emissions over decades, the lawsuit says. Scientists have long warned that fossil fuel extraction must be curbed rapidly to ensure a livable future.
The Alaska LNG project would include construction of a gas treatment plant in the North Slope states, an 800-mile pipeline and a liquefaction plant on the Kenai Peninsula that would prepare the gas for export to Asia.
[Y]Outside plaintiffs are uniquely vulnerable and disproportionately harmed by the climate harms that will result from the Alaska LNG Project, the suit says.
In an unusual move in 2014, Alaska passed legislation that changed multiple state laws to direct the state to implement the project.
The challengers, ages 11 to 22, argue that the proposal and that legislation in particular violates two sections of the Alaska constitution: the right to protected natural resources. for present and future generations, and the right to be free from government encroachment on life, liberty and property.
The acceleration of climate change that this project will bring will affect what the land provides and brings to my culture, said Summer Sagoonick, the 22-year-old lead plaintiff in the case and a member of the Iupiaq tribe. I trust the courts to protect my rights.
The case was brought by Our Childrens Trust, the nonprofit law firm that won a groundbreaking climate victory on behalf of Montana youth last year.
Global warming is already harming Alaska’s youth, the lawsuit says, by interfering with their natural development, disrupting their cultural traditions and identities, and limiting their access to the natural resources they rely on.
Fish and other species that plaintiffs eat are dying because of climate change. More frequent and more severe fires are threatening young people’s homes and exposing them to dangerous smoke pollution. And the recognition of the threat of the climate crisis is harming their health, the complaint states, among other things.
Those effects have been particularly harsh on Alaska Native youth, the complaint states. This includes Sagoonick, who resides in the village of Unalakleet, which is vulnerable to climate-induced flooding, rapid melting of permafrost and severe coastal erosion.
We were already seeing major impacts on our ability to make a living due to climate change, she said.
Sagoonick learned to fish, hunt and gather as a young woman; it relies on local foods for survival, including salmon and other fish, seals, duck and cranberries, for the vast majority of its diet, the lawsuit states.
As our water warms and our land erodes, it poses a threat to our food and our cultural practices, Sagoonick said.
Four of the plaintiffs, including Sagoonick, were also part of a 2017 Our Children Trust lawsuit against Alaska that argued fossil fuel promotion generally violated the challenging states’ constitutional rights.
In 2022, The Alaska Supreme Court dismissed that case in a 3-2 decision. But the two dissenting justices said under Alaska’s constitution, the right to a livable climate is arguably the bare minimum when it comes to rights enshrined in the state constitution.
They are the only two justices from the Alaska supreme court to address the question of whether the Alaska constitution guarantees the right to a climate system that supports human life, Andrew Welle, senior staff attorney for the Our Children Trust and counsel for the Alaska plaintiffs. So they were asking the full court to decide the same issue.
Although it did not set a precedent, Welle said the decision is a strong indicator.
The complaint marks the first time Our Children’s Trust is challenging a specific fossil fuel project, rather than general government support for fossil fuels. The state of Alaska is named as a defendant, as is the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation and that corporation’s president, Frank Richards.
The youth plaintiffs hope the court will issue an injunction barring the state from moving forward with the project. They are also seeking to set precedent by admitting that fossil fuel infrastructure violates the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.
This is the first step in securing a broader vision of climate justice for Alaska’s youth, as it can be built into future cases and enforcement actions, Welle said.
Earlier this year, the Montana Supreme Court upheld a landmark ruling in a case brought by Our Childrens Trust, requiring state regulators to consider the climate crisis before approving permits for fossil fuel development. The state has appealed that decision, and on Tuesday, the court said it would hear oral arguments next July.
Our Children’s Trust also has state lawsuits pending in Hawaii that will go to trial in June as well Florida, Utah and Virginia. On Monday, she filed an amended complaint against the federal government on behalf of young people in California.
A federal appeals court this month granted the Biden administration’s request to strike a landmark federal case from Our Childrens Trust.
#Alaska #youth #sue #state #fossil #fuel #project #claim #violates #rights
Image Source : www.theguardian.com