• Here’s what happened: More energy companies are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review Hawaii’s climate nuisance lawsuit.
• Tell me more: The Hawaiian Supreme Court has ruled that, while energy companies successfully prevented federal common-law public-nuisance suits, they did not address identical state actions. The companies have argued that states and local governments are improperly attempting to regulate emissions, which falls under federal jurisdiction.
• How we got here: Dozens of states, cities and municipalities have filed climate nuisance lawsuits seeking massive settlements and attempting to circumvent the appropriate legislative process for setting climate policy. SCOTUS has declined to remove other climate nuisance lawsuits to federal court, leaving the door open for plaintiffs to continue filing state-level climate nuisance litigation. 
  
• TLR Thoughts: Without legislative action, we can continue to expect to see the widespread filing of public nuisance lawsuits against a variety of industries. The Texas Legislature should create guardrails to clarify what exactly is—and isn’t—a true public nuisance. Catch-up quick

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