WEBVTT - An Update on the Youth Climate Lawsuit 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:10.200 Hello, and welcome back to Drilled. I'm Amy Westervelt. Today 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:13.920 an update on a big climate case that's been ongoing 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:18.239 for about seven years now. It's probably the best known 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:22.160 of all of the climate cases, the Juliana Case, or 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:27.240 officially Juliana versus the United States. In this case, twenty 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:31.960 one young plaintiffs sue the US government over climate change. 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:37.000 It's often been misreported that they sued the government for 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:42.760 inaction on climate but that's not actually what they said. 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:46.640 In fact, the plaintiffs sued the government for effectively enabling 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:52.200 and accelerating climate change via policies that support and encourage 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:56.840 more and more fossil fuel extraction, so fossil fuel subsidies 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:00.000 or highway bills that make the country dependent on cars. 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:04.920 There's anything that basically encourages more emissions. That's not just 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:09.000 me being all well. Actually, although okay, fine, I do 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.480 like to do that sometimes, it is actually a really 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:16.679 important distinction. Here's Julia Olsen, the lead attorney on the case, 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:17.560 to explain. 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:23.760 So, the case is about the government's affirmative acts that 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:27.160 have put these young people in a position of danger 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.520 and continue to act in ways that are enhancing the 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:34.920 danger for young people. As a lawyer, I'm looking at 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:40.360 the party most responsible for causing the harm, and I'm 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:46.600 also looking at the remedy that's available to really stop 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:51.440 the climate emergency from worsening and to begin to redress 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:55.760 it so that we can protect these fundamental life support 0:01:55.840 --> 0:02:01.840 resources for these young people. When I look as the 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:06.200 party most responsible, it is the United States government, historically 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:13.600 and presently because of the government's creation of promotion, of 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:17.520 support of a national fossil fuel energy system. 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:22.919 Some lawyers, especially those going up against the oil companies themselves, 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:27.000 have criticized the Juliana case for being too broad or 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:30.320 for taking the spotlight off of the fossil fuel industry. 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:34.240 But Olsen doesn't see the two as mutually exclusive, and 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:38.120 having covered the climate crisis for more than twenty years now, 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:40.560 I kind of tend to agree. Seems to me like 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:44.120 there's plenty of accountability to go around. The Juliana case 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:48.480 was originally filed in twenty fifteen, and in twenty twenty 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.160 one it looked like it was dead in the water. 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.320 Back in twenty twenty, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:58.680 ruled that the plaintiffs didn't have standing to bring this case, 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.600 So the plaintiffs asked for what's called an on banc rehearing. 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:06.280 That's a request that a full panel of judges, So 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:09.799 in this case, eleven judges look at a case, not 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:12.960 just the three who happened to review it the first time. 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.280 They asked for that in twenty twenty, and in early 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.280 twenty twenty one, the Ninth Circuit said, Nope, we're not 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.720 going to rehear it. Our decision is our decision. So 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:24.919 a lot of folks thought this case was done for, 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:27.840 but the Ninth Circuit issued a mandate to send the 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.679 case back to District court in Oregon. 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:34.440 So now it's back in front of Judge Aigan. And 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:40.280 at that point we decided the best path forward and 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.920 sort of the most efficient past path forward to get 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.240 to a ruling in the case and to get to 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:50.880 trial was to amend the complaint. 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:53.760 We're going to get into how the complaint was amended, 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:57.760 what's happened since then, and what's going on with youth 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.080 climate cases in general. Right now, that's all coming up 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:13.640 right after this quick break. Okay, So, back in twenty 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:18.320 twenty one, Olsen and her team filed an amended complaint 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.400 and the Juliana case got a second life. 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:27.479 So we amended our complaint and we changed the request 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:32.520 for relief. At the end, we took out the specific 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:37.000 request for the court to order a plan be prepared 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:44.400 on fixing the climate crisis, and we really refocused our 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:50.200 requests for relief on what's called declaratory judgment, so asking 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:54.279 the court in the first place to just declare the 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:59.120 constitutional rights and say whether the government has violated those 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:04.200 constitutional rights of these young people. And so the request 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.920 for relief focuses on that. It does also ask the 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:12.400 court to award plaintiffs any other relief that the Court 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:17.520 finds is appropriate or necessary after a trial is held 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:22.960 and all the evidence comes out. So we did that 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:27.360 and then we added new factual allegations to the body 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:32.760 of the complaint and we connected the dots better to say, hey, 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.880 you know, one big part of the injury here is 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:41.440 that the US government is saying to young people that 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:45.560 they don't have constitutional rights. They are saying that it's 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.880 totally within the law for them to continue to promote 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.760 fossil fuel energy, that that's okay to do. And so 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.320 there's a real controversy there. And if the court resolves 0:05:56.360 --> 0:06:01.400 that controversy in favor of these young people and says 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.679 that that conduct is unconstitutional. You know that the fossil 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:09.760 fuel energy policies and practices of the United States government 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:16.320 are unconstitutional. Then that changes this whole legal relationship between 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:19.560 these young people and their government. And then the government 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:23.920 can't keep saying, oh, we can keep promoting fossil fuels, 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:26.120 we can permit all of this, we can lease public 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:29.880 lands for fossil fuel extraction. That's totally within our right. 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.200 They will be wrong at that point, and then things 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:38.400 will really begin to change. And so we said in 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:42.760 the complaint that if the court issues that declaration of 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:47.839 constitutional law, that the federal government will abide by it 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:51.000 and they will begin to change the way our energy 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.000 system is run in our country. 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:58.240 That actually feels like a pretty huge deal, especially as 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:02.159 we've been watching the Biden administry struggle to change any 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.960 policies at all with respect to climate and fossil fuels. 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:08.520 One of the first things the district court judge in 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:12.440 Oregon who's overseeing this case, Judge Aiken, did was to 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.840 order Olsen and her team to have a settlement conference 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:19.120 with the US Department of Justice to see if they 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:22.120 could work out a settlement agreement instead of taking this 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:23.320 case back to court. 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:27.400 June twenty third was our first settlement conference, and June 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:30.920 twenty fifth was the oral argument on the motion to amend. 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:36.880 So we've had one settlement conference and what happens in 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:40.840 those conversations has to be kept confidential. It's the way 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:45.600 settlement negotiations work. It frees the parties to talk freely 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:51.080 with the settlement judge and to not disclose that conversation publicly, 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:52.800 So I can't talk about the content. 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:56.560 That was Julie Olsen talking to me back in July 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.360 when the team had just had one settlement conference friends 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:04.080 and gone through oral arguments on this new amended complaint. 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:07.040 The reason I wanted to talk to her back then, 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:09.720 kind of in the middle of all of this process, 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:14.520 was that something really strange happened as that first settlement 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:19.760 conference was getting underway. The Attorney General of Alabama, joined 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:24.080 by a Republican attorneys general from sixteen other states, filed 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:27.720 a motion to intervene in this case. And that means 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:32.080 we got to talk about RAGA. The Republican Attorneys General 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:36.600 Association RAGA was started back in the nineteen nineties. As 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:41.360 a reaction to the tobacco litigation. That litigation had been 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:45.200 started mostly by Democratic attorneys general, and Republicans took a 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.000 look at the legal landscape in the country and realized 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:52.160 that they were vastly outnumbered by Democrats in state attorneys 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:55.040 general offices. That was something that was going to need 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:58.240 to change if they were going to avoid states going 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:04.199 after an industry ever again. So the attorney's general of Alabama, Texas, 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:08.800 and South Carolina came together and created RAGA, and then 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:11.760 they set about getting Republican attorneys general elected. 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:18.640 I had looked at this back when I was working 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:22.080 on the Senate Judiciary Committee in terms of the rise 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:25.760 of RAGA, the Republican Attorney's General Association, where we know 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:27.440 that it's a pay to play operation. 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.720 Lisa Greeves ran the Center for Media and Democracy for 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:34.400 years and now runs the research firm True North. She's 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.000 been tracking RAGA since its inception. 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:42.000 We know that it has had enormously distorting effect on 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:46.439 US law. It provides a mechanism for corporations to pass 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:51.559 money through to help attorneys general in ways that they 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:55.320 would not be able to individually solicit for their own 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:59.720 campaigns given their role their regulatory role over those very industries, 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.439 and that's been going on since RAGA was created back 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:08.400 more than twenty years ago. Now, RAGA now is not 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:14.200 just a recipient of donations from big oil and big 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:19.080 huge corporations, but it's also a major recipient of funds 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:22.880 in which the source is completely unknown to anyone other 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.680 than the person raising the money. The agenda of the 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:29.040 people who fund the RAGA the Republican Jurney General's Association, 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:33.160 and have been really attempting to work a legal revolution 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.240 through offices that we would otherwise consider to be independent. 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:38.920 It would be nice to have attorneys general of states 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:44.040 who were not so captive to advancing the interest of 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:48.400 Charles Coke, but unfortunately we are in an era in 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.440 which those interests have been dominating. 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.800 They successfully took the lead over Democrats several years ago 0:10:55.920 --> 0:11:00.640 and transitioned to Phase two, coordinating on a meek briefs 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:05.160 and constitutional cases. You definitely know their work, even if 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:07.720 you've never heard of RAGA before. Today. 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.520 Now for an opposing view, we're joined by Ted Cruz. 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:13.080 He is the Solicitor General for the State of Texas, 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:16.360 and he drafted the amicus brief signed by Attorney's General 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.360 of thirty one states who say the DC handgun ban 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:20.640 should be struck down. 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:23.560 More than one hundred House Republicans on Thursday signed onto 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:26.680 an amicus brief in support of the Texas lawsuit aimed 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:31.040 at overturning the election result in four swing states Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:31.800 and Wisconsin. 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:37.400 So yeah, the same group that's been mobilizing against gun 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:40.720 control and abortion for years and that tried to get 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:44.280 the twenty twenty election results overturned all of a sudden 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:48.360 showed up in the Juliana case six years after the 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:58.920 case was filed. Now, normally, when someone files a motion 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:02.200 to intervene in a case, they're effectively joining that case 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:06.120 as a co defendant or a coplaintiff. But in this case, 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:09.040 the Republican ags don't want to be co defendants with 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.440 the US government. They only wanted to intervene in certain 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:16.160 parts of the proceedings. Here's Julia Olsen again. 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:23.559 They have a political agenda to protect gun rights, to 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:31.280 put limits on voting rights, to stop women from having 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:38.760 access to choices about their health and childbearing and abortion, 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:45.000 and they also have a climate agenda and on their 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:49.800 climate agenda is the Juliana case, and they have decided 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:56.280 that this case has a real shot at winning, I think, 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:04.480 and really establishing the constantitutional law around the extensive harm 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:09.200 being caused by this crisis and by energy policies. So 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:14.079 I think they realized that, oh, this case is going somewhere, 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:19.320 and as a result of that, they asked the district 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:24.479 court if they could come in and intervene for limited purposes. 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.280 And so this intervention motion that they filed. 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:33.360 It's really bizarre because typically when you have interveners, people 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.439 who want to come into a case, they either want 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.320 to come in as a plaintiff or they want to 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:41.960 come in as a defendant and they want to participate 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:46.439 in a case as a full party. And these attorney 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.720 generals from these eighteen states. 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:51.640 They aren't asking to come in as a party. 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:56.120 They want to come in as sort of an interlocky tour. 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.640 To just blow things up. 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:03.280 They said very explicitly, they want to come and have 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.120 a seat at the settlement table in order to prevent 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:08.080 any settlement from happening. 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:12.080 Keep in mind, this motion was filed in June twenty 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:15.839 twenty one, so the Biden administration was just getting going 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:19.320 and it maybe wasn't clear yet what his Department of 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:22.920 Justice was going to look like. These attorneys general had 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.840 no reason to intervene when it was a Trump DOJ 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.680 dealing with the Juliana case, but now they weren't so sure, 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:32.840 and they did not want the government settling with these 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:37.320 attorneys and effectively creating a constitutional right to a livable 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:41.960 planet in the US. According to Julia Olsen, they needn't 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:43.040 have worried. 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:47.160 I actually think the DOJ is not very different at all. 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.400 In talking to lawyers in a lot of other cases, 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:56.840 people aren't seeing a shift in the DOJ under the 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:00.080 Biden administration and under the leadership of Merrick Garland, and 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:03.760 I think they're still taking a lot of the same 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:05.160 positions they have taken. 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:07.120 And I actually think there's sort of a. 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:17.600 Dangerous backlash happening from what went on during the Trump 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:23.040 administration in terms of there was a lot of concern 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.280 that the president at the time Trump was using the 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:31.480 Department of Justice to achieve his personal needs. 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:34.680 You know that they the Attorney. 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.120 General Barber's acting as his private attorney kind of you know, 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:40.120 that was a lot of the public perception and the 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:44.200 concern of Congress, and that DOJ was not on the 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:48.760 up and up. And so you know, President Biden has said, 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:53.200 We're going to have clear rules and the Department of 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:57.000 Justice will have prosecutorial discretion, and I'm not going to 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:01.240 tell them who to prosecute, Right, that's their decision as 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:02.120 the people's lawyer. 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:05.280 And that all makes sense. 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:11.400 But when the Department of Justice is defending clients, like 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:16.080 different agencies that have been sued by people, then there 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:20.600 is a really important role for the executive branch, that 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:24.160 the political officials and the agencies and the White House 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:27.920 to play in how they want to be defended in 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:28.680 those cases. 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:30.200 Right. 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:33.120 So, as an attorney, you have an obligation to confer 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:35.920 with your client and make recommendations. But at the end 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.320 of the day, if your client wants to settle, or 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.720 if your client wants to admit facts, or your client 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.720 wants to take a particular legal position, the clients make 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:52.440 that decision, not attorneys by themselves. And so I think 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:56.720 the Department of Justice is kind of overreacting or overcorrecting 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:04.919 what happened previously. And and in many cases, the policies 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:09.280 of the Biden administration are not aligning with what the 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:14.000 Department of Justice is doing in cases that have a 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.200 huge bearing on those policies. 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:21.280 Ultimately, it was a mood point. Judge Aikins still hasn't 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:24.639 ruled on whether or not the RAGA attorneys can intervene, 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.159 nor has she ruled on the amended complaint, and in 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:32.560 the meantime, the settlement conferences have ended with no settlement. 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.360 I spoke with Olsen again this week to get an update. 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:42.560 You know, we have filed some unnoticed there's a supplemental 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:45.399 authority that have been some Supreme Court cases that have 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:49.119 been decided that we think are favorable to the mission 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:53.440 to amend. So you know, when something arises, some new 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.160 precedent that binds her, we it's on that her way. 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:02.320 But otherwise we are just waiting on her decision on 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:04.760 that mission to an end, which could come any day now. 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:11.240 And we also for about about five months, starting in 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:17.879 probably July, we were working with magistrate we're former magistrate 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:22.800 Judge Tom Coffin as our settlement judge and engaging in 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:29.120 settlement talks with the Department of Justice. Those became no, 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.359 you know, we're not fruitful, and so we ended those 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.080 talks in October. 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:41.199 Wasn't part of the Republican Attorney General's request was like 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:43.800 to be in on those talks. 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:46.159 Yeah, yeah, they wanted they wanted to be able to 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:52.439 have a seat at the settlement table, and that question 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.840 had not been decided, but there was, you know, no 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:59.160 need for them to have a seat at that settlement table. 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:01.679 The Biden DOJ is. 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:09.120 Continuing to do its job to fight this case, and 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:14.720 at this point, you know, has not shown any non 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:19.399 alignment with the position of the Trump administration, or for 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:20.960 that matter, or the Red States. 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:25.200 So that's interesting because it did seem like that might 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:30.760 have been part of the motivation for the Republican Attorneys general, right, 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.760 was that they thought, oh, a Biden DOJ is going 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:37.080 to settle with them, and that might be bad. But 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:39.520 they needn't have worried. 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:41.440 They mayn't have worried. 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.040 Now Olsen and her team are just waiting on a 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:49.200 decision from Judge Aiken about whether she's going to accept 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:53.440 this amended complaint and whether she'll allow the RAGA attorneys 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:56.199 to intervene. In addition to wanting to be part of 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:59.840 those settlement conferences, the Republican attorneys wanted to be able 0:19:59.840 --> 0:20:04.200 to weigh in on the amended complaint. Everyone is eagerly 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.879 awaiting a ruling from Judge Eachin, which could come any day. 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:08.920 Now, all right. 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:12.320 I was hopeful that we would have had it before 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:16.760 the end of twenty twenty one. And I also know 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:20.760 that she has a very full docket that has obviously 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:26.680 been impacted by COVID. So we are waiting and hopefully 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:30.760 she cleared things out and Juliana will be next up. 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:32.639 Yeah, and I don't know. 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:35.480 I mean, if you've seen the projections that the projections 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:42.720 from the EIA are showing, you know, continued increases in 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:46.800 our oil and gas production, in our emissions, and of 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.119 course I think twenty twenty one was like, what a 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:53.720 six percent increase in emissions again, so we're headed in 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:55.880 that exact opposite direction we need to, which is why 0:20:55.960 --> 0:20:57.879 we need to get back to court and get to trial. 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.960 In the meantime, several other youth climate cases have been 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:05.600 filed all over the world, including a few by Olsen 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:09.080 in her team, most recently in Mexico and Canada. Olsen's 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:12.639 happy to see it, but is also concerned about a 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:17.280 new and troubling trend. She's seeing cases pushing for governments 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:20.480 to adhere to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.880 so limiting warming to between one point five and two degrees, 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:29.640 but also points out that those targets were a political compromise, 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:33.240 they're not what science indicates is actually safe. 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:36.680 And of course, for the most part, judges aren't going 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:40.760 to independently lead climate science, and so they're going to 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:45.000 rely on council to bring them the evidence, right, and 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:49.200 when the evidence is coming in and they're saying, you know, yeah, 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:52.760 to go with the Parish Agreement numbers, then judges are 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:56.680 doing that. And so they're actually chases now and there's 0:21:56.840 --> 0:22:02.679 precedent building around the world that text human rights in 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:06.920 whatever iteration the claims are brought, but whatever where that 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:11.400 human rights law is in a particular country, whether it's 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:14.600 in an international treaty or in a constitution. 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:17.240 Or codified in some other place, they. 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:19.720 Are linking it now to those one point five and 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:23.360 two degrees seeing numbers, which is catastrophic. 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:27.120 For humanity and for young people. And you know, it's 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:28.760 my experience that most. 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:33.360 Lawyers and even a lot of journalists don't understand that 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:39.479 the foundational science is about Earth's energy and balance, right, 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:42.000 Because as long as we have an energy and balance 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:44.359 that the plants going to keep heating, right, And this 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:47.840 is like fundamental science, that climate that sciences. 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:49.400 Have interested for one hundred years or more. 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:56.439 And there's this just phenomenal group of interdisciplinary scientists working 0:22:56.480 --> 0:23:00.919 together to continually define what that energy's number it is 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:05.320 and what level of CO two in the atmosphere would 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:07.879 correct that energy of balance, Like what do we have 0:23:07.920 --> 0:23:08.480 to go back to? 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:11.240 And they continue to come. 0:23:11.200 --> 0:23:13.240 Up with the number three fifty We have to get 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:15.399 below three fifty parts per million. 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:16.040 Yeah. 0:23:16.359 --> 0:23:18.840 You know when I ask her any scientists the question, 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:24.119 what do you think one point five is safe? Like 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:26.120 do you think we can save these levels? And they're 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:33.760 all like no, it's it's totally dangerous in catastropha. 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:39.480 That sets a precedent not only for cases like Olsen's, 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:43.800 but for policy too. If courts start to codify those targets, 0:23:44.160 --> 0:23:47.360 suddenly it becomes harder and harder to push for policies 0:23:47.400 --> 0:23:51.880 that align with science and human rights rather than politics. 0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:55.560 We'll be following that trend here and also on our 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:59.560 new spin off show Damages, which is launching next month. 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:03.359 On Damages, we'll be following the hundreds of climate cases 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:06.080 making their way through courts all over the globe at 0:24:06.080 --> 0:24:08.840 the moment. Stay tuned after the credits for a quick 0:24:09.040 --> 0:24:12.760 trailer with more on that show. That's it for this week. 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:15.760 Thanks for listening as always, and we'll see you next time. 0:24:21.080 --> 0:24:25.080 Drilled is an original Critical Frequency production. Our producer is 0:24:25.160 --> 0:24:29.160 Jules Bradley, mixing and mastering by Peter Duff. Our First 0:24:29.240 --> 0:24:33.000 Amendment attorney is James Wheaton of the First Amendment Project. 0:24:33.880 --> 0:24:37.840 Our artwork is by Matthew Fleming. The show is reported 0:24:37.880 --> 0:24:41.199 and written by me Amy Westervelt. If you'd like to 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:44.160 support our work, you can do that at patreon dot 0:24:44.160 --> 0:24:47.320 com slash Drilled. That will also get you access to 0:24:47.480 --> 0:24:51.560 add free episodes and exclusive merchandise, so check that out. 0:24:52.119 --> 0:25:09.040 Thanks again and we'll see you next week. All right, 0:25:12.920 --> 0:25:16.399 You know what, there's a reason courtroom dramas stay on 0:25:16.520 --> 0:25:23.560 TV forever. They're dramatic. You've got the salty lawyers. Well, 0:25:23.600 --> 0:25:26.720 the First Amendment doesn't protect fraud and deception. 0:25:27.200 --> 0:25:31.399 Why would you keep a failing company as a partner 0:25:31.720 --> 0:25:34.160 to build your country's futurem and. 0:25:34.119 --> 0:25:38.439 The expert witnesses they were giving millions of dollars to 0:25:38.560 --> 0:25:43.000 other entities to support the idea that the Santo Breen 0:25:43.119 --> 0:25:43.840 has with. 0:25:43.960 --> 0:25:44.679 A house. 0:25:47.119 --> 0:25:50.760 And look, people don't file lawsuits, at least the kinds 0:25:50.760 --> 0:25:53.199 that you go to courtover for months and months and 0:25:53.240 --> 0:25:56.159 months unless they feel really wronged and are ready to 0:25:56.200 --> 0:25:57.480 fight reality. 0:25:57.560 --> 0:26:00.240 What both sides really want is more power. 0:26:00.440 --> 0:26:00.679 To me. 0:26:00.800 --> 0:26:02.840 It was like, bring it on, you know, and I'm 0:26:02.880 --> 0:26:04.760 not going to back down to fight. I'm not going 0:26:04.800 --> 0:26:07.199 to back down, not when it's right, you know, and 0:26:07.200 --> 0:26:08.000 not when people. 0:26:07.760 --> 0:26:08.399 Are being hurt. 0:26:09.080 --> 0:26:12.480 Right now, around two hundred court cases are making their 0:26:12.480 --> 0:26:16.840 way through legal systems around the world with one goal 0:26:17.119 --> 0:26:20.399 to hold companies and governments accountable for their roles in 0:26:20.440 --> 0:26:24.240 the climate crisis. They hinge on different legal strategies, but 0:26:24.280 --> 0:26:31.560 they're all fighting for one pointiff. It's all of us 0:26:32.040 --> 0:26:34.080 and life on this planet. 0:26:36.720 --> 0:26:39.640 Opponents of n Bridge Energies Line three oil pipeline that's 0:26:39.680 --> 0:26:41.760 being replaced across northern Minnesota are. 0:26:41.680 --> 0:26:44.960 Taking a unique legal approach to try to halt construction. 0:26:45.280 --> 0:26:48.720