Litigants, supporters, and
legal counsil of Nature's
Trust Rhode Island were in
Superior Court in Providence
last week. Judge Darigan's
decision to delay was covered
in the Rhode Island and
national press. Here is a list
followed by our
press release. The media
have started to pay attention,
as Nature relentlessly follows
her own course.
Press coverage:
- Uprise
Rhode Island: More
Delays in the Nature’s
Trust Lawsuit, but the
Case Finally Has a Judge
- Providence
Journal: R.I. judge:
Lawsuit prodding state on
climate change may be
‘square peg in a round
hole’
- San
Fransico Chronicle:
Rhode Island judge delays
climate change petition
- US
News: A petition
calling on the state of
Rhode Island to do more to
fight climate change has
been delayed.
- Houston
Chronicle: delays,
...
- New
Canaan Advertiser:
delays, delays, ...
-
Caledonian Record:
delays, delays, delays,
...
- New
Boston Post:
Climate-Change Activists
Wants Judge To Tell State
Environmental Agency and
State Legislature What To
Do
Superior Court Judge
Melissa Darigan decided on a
timetable that will lead to
a decision if the court has
jurisdiction over a case
filed by Nature's Trust
Rhode Island against the
Rhode Island Department of
Environmental Management
(DEM). This timetable was
issued almost a year after
the case was filed in
Superior Court.
DEM has the lead
responsibility in Rhode
Island to maintain a healthy
environment for the citizens
of the state. On September 5
of 2018, Nature's Trust
Rhode Island, on behalf of
13 young people and three
organizations, filed a
citizen's petition with DEM.
It contained a plan to
remedy the departments
failure to address global
climate change in a way
consistent with the demands
laid out by the best, latest
climate science.
As Chloe Moers, a student
at the Met High School in
Providence, put it:
The earth is
suffering. We cannot wait
forever; every moment we
wait, a life may be lost.
The DEM is here to protect
our home yet this is not
what is happening. They must
realize that this is so much
bigger than them.
Sister Mary Pendergast,
Director of Ecology at
Sisters of Mercy Northeast
Community, added:
Many of us stand
in intergenerational
solidarity with these
courageous young people.
Anyone with eyes to see will
understand that the youth
are rising up all over the
world! DEM knows this and it
knows the right thing to do.
We'll wait.
In October of 2018, a
month after the petition was
filed, DEM rejected the
plan. DEM provided no
credible explanation, but
observed that the requested
actions were unprecedented.
Days after DEM's rejection,
the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC)
issued a Special Report
stating that, in fact,
unprecedented global action
was required to avoid a
climate catastrophe. The
following month, November
2018, Nature's Trust RI
filed a lawsuit in Superior
Court in Providence
challenging DEM's
determination.
Since then, DEM has not
responded meaningfully to a
request filed in April of
this year for clarification.
A valid response would have
allowed the court to decide
the case effectively. In
July, Nature's Trust Rhode
Island asked the court to
compel DEM to do as
requested. A hearing had
been scheduled for August 29
to decide this matter, but,
at the last minute, Judge
Long dropped the case
stating that she had a
conflict of interest. This
Monday, the hearing
scheduled originally for
August, took place.
Judge Darigan, after
consulting with the parties
stated that she wanted to
first focus on a threshold
issue: whether the court in
fact has had jurisdiction
over the case. The judge
expressed surprise that this
issue had not yet been
addressed almost a year
after the case filed. She
ordered DEM to file
paperwork dealing with this
issue on or before December
15 of this year, and gave
Nature's Trust Rhode Island
a month after filing to
respond. Thereafter, DEM
will have a few more days to
reply to Natures Trust RI's
response. Finally, the Court
will schedule a hearing on
the matter.
Michael Kearny of Sunrise
Providence expressed dismay
by stating:
While I appreciate
that this new judge is
taking the case seriously, I
was disappointed that the
hearing was postponed for at
least several months,
especially given all the
previous delays. The threat
of climate change is looming
large. We don't have years
to wait while this case
drags on. We need bold and
immediate action from
leaders at all levels of
government, including our
courts and the RI DEM, if
we're going to survive this
crisis.
Meghan Janicki, a student
at West Warwick High School
said:
We are a society
based on the value in doing
good. Any action to save our
planet from the catastrophic
effects of climate change
have no reason to not be
taken or ignored.
Philip Tierney of
Providence, age 15. added:
I hope kids in
the future will understand
that at least we tried to do
something to stop climate
change.
As the IPCC mentioned in
its report of October of
2018, humanity has roughly a
decade to put its climate
house in order. Since then,
a year has gone by without
significant progress.
Unenforceable state goals
remain the same as those set
years ago, before the new
evidence of urgency. Nature
is the ultimate decider of
these proceedings and she is
unlikely to suspend her laws
while humans haggle over
matters of jurisdiction.
Alexandra Duryea, a
graduate student at the
University of Rhode island,
summed up the plight of her
generation saying:
The pace of this
case is very frustrating
given the diminishing amount
of time we have left to take
action on climate change. We
are in the midst of a
climate emergency. We are
running out of time, time we
will never get back. I just
wish the older generation
would feel the urgency and
panic we young people feel
when thinking about the
destruction of our future.
