Utah Supreme Court agrees to hear teens' climate change lawsuit

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit brought by a group of teens challenging the state's fossil fuel policies that they say harm their health and exacerbate climate change.

The state's top court could revive a legal challenge that was dismissed in 2022 by a lower court judge. While he declared the teens"have a valid concern" about climate change and the impacts of the state's fossil fuel policies, the judge dismissed their lawsuit, declaring that the issues fell within the realm of the legislative branch of government.

The teens appealed and the Court agreed to take up the case, setting arguments for Sept. 4. A notation in the docket indicates Associate Chief Justice John Pearce has recused himself from hearing the case. Prior to joining the Court, he was legal counsel for then-Governor Gary Herbert. "We are hopeful that the Court will set this case back on the path towards trial, where it belongs. With each passing day that Utah’s statutory policy to maximize fossil fuel development remains in place, Utah’s government continues to increase the state’s dangerous air pollution and worsen the climate crisis, directly harming the health and safety of these brave young plaintiffs," the teens' attorney, Andrew Welle, said in a statement.

This year, the Utah State Legislature rewrote the state's energy policies with some bills designed to prop up Utah's declining coal industry. FOX 13 News first reported last year that Carbon County mined its last coal mine. On Wednesday, the legislature will meet in special session to consider a renegotiated bill that originally cleared the way for a state takeover of the massive Intermountain Power Project in central Utah. IPP has been moving away from fossil fuels.

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