In the Rocky Mountains, years of extreme heat and drought have baked the landscape, drying up streams that feed the Colorado River and desiccating pastures where cattle graze. The unrelenting dryness has brought hardship upon cattle ranchers, who say their livelihoods increasingly are under threat. Supreme Court considers a case in which major oil companies are being sued for the effects of global warming, a group of Colorado ranchers is voicing support for the the idea that the fossil fuel industry should be held to account.
It argues that the oil companies have for decades concealed and misrepresented the dangers of fossil fuels and that they should help pay the rising costs of more intense wildfires, drought and heat waves, among other problems linked to climate change. The defendants have appealed to the Supreme Court in hopes of blocking the lawsuit, which they say threatens to create financial chaos for their industry, among other issues. The group of seven ranchers filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the city and county, saying they are “living through the impacts of anthropogenic climate change that scientists have warned about for years,” and that rising temperatures driven by the use of fossil fuels threaten “the economic viability of a way of life that has been central to communities for generations.” Their public stand is unusual.
Many western ranchers are skeptical about climate science and remain unconvinced that global warming is a major driver of drought and shifting weather patterns. But for Valdez, who owns about 200 cattle in southwestern Colorado, the connection is clear. The ranchers depend on snowmelt that feeds the Colorado River and its tributaries to nourish grasses and hay pastures for their herds.
But this year the Rockies had the least snow on record, and they’ve watched springs dry up and creeks dwindle. The lack of water has ravaged grasslands and left ranchers unable to grow enough hay, forcing them to buy feed for their cows at high prices. It’s been so dry that Valdez no longer can get water in his irrigation system for his animals to drink.
He has turned to buying water and hauling it with a tanker truck to fill troughs for the cows. Then Suncor and Exxon Mobil appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that federal law precludes such claims in state courts “for injuries allegedly caused by the effects of interstate greenhouse-gas emissions on the global climate.” The companies said in a recent brief that nearly 60 other local governments and states have brought similar suits, and that damages in any single case “could reach into the billions.” “Giving even a single jury the power to impose ruinous liability on selected members of the energy industry is a recipe for chaos,” the companies said in the document.
County Commissioners of Boulder County on Oct. 5. Its ruling could affect dozens of other pending lawsuits by cities and states against oil and gas companies. The ranchers decided to write an amicus brief after seeing that eight counties were setting aside money to write a brief in support of the oil companies.
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