Attorneys for 21 young people suing the federal government over climate change say settlement talks with the U.S. Department of Justice have failed.
Juliana v. the United States was filed six years ago in Eugene. The 21 youth plaintiffs are represented by attorney Julia Olson with Our Children’s Trust. She said they went into the settlement negotiations in good faith.
“We gave it our best shot,” Olson said. “And maybe there will be another opportunity in the future. But for now, our eyes are on trial.”
The plaintiffs have asked U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken to allow the case to go to court. The lawsuit claims the young people have a constitutional right to a climate that sustains life, and that the government has acted to perpetuate a fossil fuel economy, ignoring and denying warnings from scientists and activists.
Climate plaintiffs and their attorneys in front of the Eugene Federal Courthouse in summer 2018.
Alec Cowan / KLCC
While world leaders meet in Scotland to grapple with the climate crisis, Olson is skeptical of the Biden administration’s commitment to the next generation.
“And they have consistently said, in the Juliana case, there is no right to a climate system that sustains life,” said Olson. “That these children don’t have that right. And that’s the position that we’re seeing on the international scale too right now.”
Olson said there’s a disconnect between what the government is willing to do and the lofty goals it talks about.
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