A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday said a lawsuit filed by 21 young people claiming the U.S. government's energy policies violate their rights to be protected from climate change must be dismissed, this time for good.A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S.
The plaintiffs had argued in their 2015 lawsuit that the government has permitted, authorized and subsidized fossil fuel extraction and consumption despite knowing those actions cause catastrophic global warming.They said climate change exacerbates things like wildfires, drought and flooding, which in turn jeopardizes their health and property. By contributing to climate change, the plaintiffs said U.S. energy polices violate their rights to due process and equal protection under the U.S.