In American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, the U.S. Supreme Court held in an 8-0 decision that the Clean Air Act displaced any federal common-law right to seek abatement of carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel-fired power plants.
Many media accounts have suggested the decision in this suit means the threat of federal climate-change tort litigation has been removed. The truth is more subtle, however, and the decision is as noteworthy for what the justices did not decide as for what they did.
The proceeding began with two complaints filed by eight states (two later dropped out), New York City and three land trusts against five private electric-power companies and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The defendants were said to account for 10 percent of all anthropogenic carbon-dioxide emissions in the United States.
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