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Utah Supreme Court hears challenge that state fossil‑fuel policies endanger youths’ lives; justices press redressability limits
Summary
At oral argument plaintiffs said state statutes and policies promoting fossil‑fuel development are causing present harms that shorten youths’ lives; the State countered that plaintiffs seek a sweeping declaratory ruling that would be advisory and not redressable absent a concrete agency action or permit challenge.
In a heated oral argument before the Utah Supreme Court, lawyers for youth plaintiffs argued that state statutes and policy statements promoting fossil‑fuel development create "pervasive, inescapable" conditions that are taking years off the lives of children exposed today, and asked the justices to reverse a lower court’s dismissal and remand for factual development.
A Justice pressed plaintiffs’ counsel on the contours of the asserted right to life, asking whether the alleged shortening of life must be immediate and certain to rise to constitutional stature. Plaintiffs’ counsel replied that the harms are occurring now and that scientific proof of lifespan reduction will emerge at…
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