As a constant hot-button issue, climate change is at the forefront of the national political debate. In California, eighteen children are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its role, or lack thereof, in handling climate change. The lawsuit, filed on December 10th, alleges that the federal agency has intentionally allowed for dangerous levels of greenhouse gasses to enter the environment from various sources, despite knowledge that doing so is a danger to the health of children and society as a whole.
Litigation expert and attorney David Di Pietro was brought on Newsmax TV’s National Report show to discuss the merits of this lawsuit and offer his insight. He explained that the idea of suing the EPA for the general and non-specific allegation of failing to protect children from climate change does not have a strong foundation and is borderline frivolous. In this explanation, he argued the point that the EPA has jurisdiction strictly limited to the borders of the United States when it comes to regulating pollution.
Because of this, they do not have the ability to completely curtail the effects of climate change in a general sense, due to other countries in the world producing even more greenhouse gas emissions than what is in question in this case. He did mention that the case would have merit if it was specific about something such as a particular powerplant or facility not being properly regulated by the agency, meaning that the idea of a lawsuit against the EPA for failure to regulate industry is not in an of itself out of the question, but that this particular case does not have the specifics required to make it stick.
David was chosen by Newsmax as a subject matter expert due to his experience as a litigation attorney regarding environmental issues and federal regulatory agencies.