Global warming lawsuits brought by New York State and others who challenged major utilities on carbon-dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants were reinstated yesterday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Southern District Judge Loretta A. Preska had dismissed the suits against American Electric Power Company and five other operators of fossil-fuel-fired power plants in 2005, finding that the plaintiffs — eight states in all, New York City and three private land trusts—had pleaded a federal common law of nuisance action that was non-justiciable under the political questions doctrine.
