Boulder and San Miguel counties joined the city of Boulder on Tuesday in suing ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy, accusing the giant energy corporations of “reckless actions and damages” in helping to cause global climate change.
While nine other coastal governments — eight in California along with New York City — have filed climate lawsuits against fossil fuel producers, the Boulder lawsuit, which claims the defendants “knowingly and substantially contributed to the climate crisis,” is being called the first of its kind filed by communities in the nation’s interior.
The suit, which the Boulder City Council agreed to pursue earlier this year, alleges the two companies are responsible for “billions of tons of the excess greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.”