Green groups are urging the Supreme Court to reject Exxon Mobil’s effort to convince the high court to overturn a landmark 2000 decision that upheld the ability of environmentalists to bring citizen lawsuits against polluters.
In a brief filed Tuesday with the Supreme Court, lawyers with the Sierra Club and the Environment Texas Citizen Lobby, urged the court to uphold the 2000 decision — along with a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that denied Exxon Mobil’s request to overturn a record $14.25 million fine against the company for pollution from its Baytown petrochemical complex near Houston.
The appellate judges in December issued what amounted to a 9-8 decision, acknowledging they were badly divided on underlying legal issues related to the long-running lawsuit. The decision relied in part on Friends of the Earth v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, which held that a “reasonable concern” about environmental harms could confer standing to environmentalists.
The district court ruling that the appellate court upheld, “rests on a complex, extensive factual record that would complicate review,” the environmental groups wrote.
