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Puerto Rico withdrew its $1 billion climate lawsuit against the oil and gas industry on Friday following the Trump administration’s move to block two states from seeking legal damages for similar alleged environmental damages.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, the territory’s government said in the notice that it “voluntarily dismisses this entire case,” with no further elaboration as to why. President Donald Trump has repeatedly condemned state-level climate policies that impact domestic energy production, and on April 30, his Department of Justice (DOJ) filed two separate lawsuits against Hawaii and Michigan after both states considered filing similar complaints against the oil and gas industry.
“This dismissal adds to the growing momentum among federal and state courts holding that states and municipalities cannot use state laws to sue over climate change,” Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP, counsel for Chevron Corporation wrote in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “These claims are precluded and preempted by federal law and must be dismissed under clear U.S. Supreme Court precedent.”
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