Trump Administration Defends Case Against Hawaii Climate Suit

The Justice Department has a right to protect its federal authority over US greenhouse gas emissions from state-based legal action, according to a new opposition brief in the government’s lawsuit against Hawaii.

Climate tort litigation against oil and gas majors that Hawaii was preparing to file threatens federal interests and authority over interstate pollution, the federal government said in the Wednesday brief.

The case, filed at the US District Court for the District of Hawaii, is aimed at preventing the Aloha State’s climate tort lawsuit, which would join the thicket of other cases pending nationwide looking to put companies on ...