An American judge dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed by children against the American government over what they considered to be a failure to combat pollution.
This complaint, targeting the US Environmental Protection Agency, is the latest in a series of legal actions brought by young people concerned about the consequences of climate change around the world.
The plaintiffs, who range in age from 8 to 17, accused the EPA of “intentionally allowing potentially deadly climate pollution from regulated greenhouse sources, harming the health and well-being of children.”
They said that the US government violated their constitutional right to equality before the law, as well as their basic right to life.
But federal judge Michael Fitzgerald in Los Angeles ruled that their complaint had not been proven.
He said the plaintiffs were alleging “injuries that would amount to ‘a lifetime of hardship and inconvenience’.” But they “failed to explain how a declaration concerning plaintiffs’ rights under the Constitution and the legality of defendants’ conduct could by itself remedy these alleged harms.”
An organization denounced the decision, describing it as “unjust” and “dangerous.”
“This decision tells children that judges do not have the authority to hear their complaints,” said Matt Dos Santos, a director of Our Children’s Trust, a nonprofit law firm that supports young plaintiffs. “You will file an appeal.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the European Court of Human Rights began last September to consider a complaint filed by six Portuguese youth against 32 countries they accuse of not doing enough to limit climate warming.
Last August, a court in the state of Montana, in the northwestern United States, ruled in favor of a group of young people who accused the state of violating their right to live in an unpolluted environment.
Our Children’s Trust has also begun similar actions in Hawaii, Utah, Virginia and Oregon.
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