In April, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would not consider a request to hear arguments for moving various climate lawsuits to federal court. In practical terms, that means state and local governments can pursue their lawsuits against energy producers in a variety of cherry-picked state and local courts across the country. 

For America’s energy future—and for the millions of families, workers, and small businesses who depend on natural gas and oil to produce affordable, reliable, available power to run their cars and heat and cool their homes—the Supreme Court’s decision is a setback. The court’s ruling could produce a patchwork quilt of outcomes, potentially creating 50 different state energy policies, each one different from another.