Jason Isaacs
September 19, 2024
Left-wing justice influence groups find the spotlight unwelcome.
The Environmental Law Institute's Climate Justice Project (CJP) positions itself as an objective source for judges interested in climate change issues and has hosted “education” events for more than 2,000 judges. My organization, the American Energy Institute, recently published many of the CJP's ties to far-left climate plaintiffs who use litigation to push Green New Deal-type policies.
Environmental Law Institute President Jordan Diamond recently issued an illogical response in Environmental Law following a major news story and prominent editorial. wall street journal.
These basic facts were not refuted in Mr. Diamond’s letter: CJP has received millions of dollars from the same entities that fund climate change cases against energy suppliers. Activist academics who developed the CJP plan also advise climate plaintiffs or support them in amicus briefs. And the “educational materials” themselves are heavily slanted toward climate plaintiffs, presenting in the form of factual assertions the facts that defendants have hotly contested in dozens of cases.
That the CJP does not “participate in proceedings” or “advise on how judges should rule in any circumstances”, as Mr Diamond puts it, is not the answer – it is completely irrelevant. CJP is more subtle by design. This is a left-wing group that exists to moderate the legal landscape so that climate change lawsuits receive a more favorable hearing. The CJP does not resort to harsh and obvious means in achieving its policy objectives.
The CJP’s goal is to promote policy change. They say so themselves. Sandra Nichols Thiem, director of judicial education at ELI, said in 2022 that the CJP’s goal is to help develop “a legal system that supports climate action.”
Honolulu's climate change lawsuit against energy suppliers is a good example of the ELI and CJP at work.
ELI personnel apparently helped promote the lawsuit. ELI board member Ann Carlson used discretionary funds to pay for a 2019 meeting “to encourage Hawaii to consider filing nuisance lawsuits against energy providers,” emails show. Carlson spoke at the conference alongside Vic Sher, a trial attorney who represents more than two dozen state and municipal entities in climate change litigation. Ultimately, the City and County of Honolulu responded to this call for action by filing a nuisance lawsuit against the provider in 2020. That's Vic Schell.
Honolulu has high hopes for success now that one of ELI's good friends holds the state's top judicial office. Hawaii State Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald is an ally of ELI and has briefed the organization at least three times on sea level rise and climate change lawsuits. The Honolulu lawsuit reached the state Supreme Court in 2023. The energy supplier has appealed Recktenwald's ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
This is conditioning at work. Will the ELI and CJP be so bold as to join the lawsuit or tell the judge how to rule? Of course not. Instead, they quietly manipulate the environment—leading the right people to the right place or providing selected information to judges—to ensure the outcome they want.
The U.S. Supreme Court could upend these careful plans. After the Recktenwald ruling, energy providers turned to the U.S. Supreme Court in February, asking a judge to dismiss such a lawsuit filed in Honolulu. We may find out in early 2025 whether the High Court will hear the case.
ELI and CJP understandably wish to conceal the nature of their business while the appeal is pending. But no one should be insensitive to climate justice plans. Whatever Mr. Diamond pretends to be in the unwelcome spotlight, this is a results-driven operation.
The Honorable Jason Isaacs is CEO of the American Energy Institute and its sister trade association, which represents America's energy producers and unapologetically supports free markets and liberating American energy. He previously served four terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and provided via RealClearWire.
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