San Francisco — Environmental groups and four U.S. cities can sue federal development agencies on allegations the overseas projects they back financially contribute to global warming, a judge has ruled.
A coalition of environmental groups sued two government agencies that provide loans and insure billions of dollars of U.S. investors' money for development projects overseas. Many are power plants that emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that are believed to be a leading cause of global warming.
"This is the first decision in the country to say that climate change causes sufficient injury to give a plaintiff standing, to open the courthouse door," said Ronald Shems, a Vermont attorney representing Friends of the Earth.
That group, in addition to Greenpeace, Boulder, Colo., and the California cities of Oakland, Santa Monica and Arcata, sued the government agencies.
They argued that the National Environmental Policy Act, the law requiring environmental assessments of proposed projects in the United States, should apply to the U.S.-backed projects overseas because they contribute to the degradation of the U.S. environment.
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