Fifteen young people from Wisconsin are suing the state, challenging laws they say violate their constitutional right to a stable climate.
Dunn v. Wisconsin Public Service Commission is the latest in a string of legal challenges brought by an Oregon-based law firm that represents young people who argue their states fail to do enough to prevent the effects of climate change.
The Wisconsin laws “perpetuate a fossil fuel-based electricity system, cause the emission of harmful air pollution, including climate-heating greenhouse gases and obstruct Wisconsin’s transition to renewable energy, which is necessary to protect plaintiffs’ constitutional rights,” the lawsuit says. It was filed Friday in Dane County Circuit Court in Madison and names the Legislature, along with the Public Service Commission.
Lead plaintiff Kaarina Dunn, 17, said she’s been active in environmental efforts since she was a third-grader, but signed up for the lawsuit because she believes individual efforts can go only so far.
