Put Washington on the lawsuit witness stand for global warming

Invoking the idea of “public trust” (gee, what a novel concept), that’s exactly what environmental law professor is trying to do, namely, laying the legal groundwork for suing the federal government over failure to adequately take action against global warming.

I characterize the atmosphere as an asset that the people own in common. The government is a trustee of that asset. This approach has a basis in our environmental law. You can even think of it as an attribute of sovereignty ... that is, the duty of government to protect our natural resources. The atmosphere is one of those natural resources. In fact, it’s the most crucial resource in our trust, because it holds everything else together.

She calls it a much more “macro” level approach rather than using existing regulatory frameworks like the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act (as in the case of the recent polar bear listing), etc. Not only would her approach have a broader focus on the number of issues, all hinged on global warming, it would address, because of that, one single suit would target a much greater number of government agencies than something like a Clean Air Act suit.

For more about Wood, a professor at the University of Oregon, visit her website.