The left has spent years trying to get Congress to pass a carbon tax – and Congress kept telling them no.
So they found a different route.
Dozens of cities and counties across America have filed lawsuits against ExxonMobil and other energy companies, demanding billions of dollars to pay for wildfires, floods, and rising temperatures – and Trump's Justice Department just told the Supreme Court exactly what that scheme would cost you.
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear the case, and what it decides will show up on your utility bill.
Boulder's Climate Lawsuit Against Fossil Fuel Companies Could Cost You at the Gas Pump
In 2018, Boulder, Colorado, and Boulder County sued ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy, claiming the companies deliberately misled the public about climate change for decades and should now help pay for every wildfire, flood, and weather event the city says it's dealing with.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last May that the lawsuit could proceed in state court – rejecting the oil companies' argument that federal law blocks exactly this kind of state-level claim.
ExxonMobil and Suncor appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court immediately.
Trump's DOJ filed a brief calling the Colorado court's ruling "manifestly wrong on a question of vast nationwide significance" – and backed the companies' demand that the case be thrown out.
How 60 Climate Lawsuits Nationwide Are Targeting Fossil Fuel Companies
Boulder's lawsuit is part of a coordinated national campaign – more than 80 climate suits filed worldwide in the last decade, with dozens in the U.S. alone targeting energy producers under state law.
Courts have already dismissed nearly identical lawsuits filed by Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the state of New Jersey, the state of Delaware, the city of Baltimore, and Anne Arundel County in Maryland.
New Jersey Superior Court Judge Douglas Hurd ruled the state's complaint was preempted by federal law.
Maryland's Anne Arundel Circuit Court Judge Steve Platt reached the same conclusion – citing a prior ruling by Maryland Senior Judge Videtta Brown that a problem as global as climate change falls outside what state law can remedy.
Every single government that went to trial on these claims has lost.
Boulder's attorneys know the endgame isn't winning damages in Colorado state court – it's establishing precedent that lets any city, anywhere, drag energy companies into local courtrooms under state law.
And if Boulder wins? The theory doesn't stop with oil companies.
Utilities, manufacturers, airlines – any industry with greenhouse gas emissions becomes a target.
Phil Goldberg, special counsel for the Manufacturers' Accountability Project, said the Supreme Court review "will bring much-needed clarity and uniformity to this issue and help ensure that fundamental policy decisions about energy and climate are made by the appropriate branches of government."
Why a Climate Lawsuit Win for Boulder Means Higher Gas Prices and Energy Bills for You
Energy companies aren't charities – and billion-dollar judgments don't vanish into thin air.
Every dollar extracted from ExxonMobil gets passed through the supply chain and lands on your gas pump, your heating bill, and your electricity statement.
The RealClearEnergy analysis of this litigation found that the organizers have been explicit: the goal is to force energy companies to "raise the price" of energy Americans use so that climate policy gets priced into everyday costs.
That's the carbon tax Congress refused to pass – extracted through the courts instead, with no vote, no debate, and no accountability.
Legal scholars who served in Republican administrations have noted that this Supreme Court is far more likely to rule that greenhouse gas issues belong to Congress – not to local tort systems in Colorado run by left-wing city councils.
Columbia University climate law expert Michael Gerrard acknowledged the statistical odds bluntly: "When the Supreme Court takes a case, it usually reverses it."
A ruling for the oil companies ends the coordinated lawsuit campaign nationwide.
A ruling against them turns every municipality in America into a potential plaintiff – and the only people who actually pay are the ones filling up their tanks, heating their homes, and opening their utility bills every month.
Boulder gets a check. You get a higher gas bill.
Sources:
- Kevin Killough, "US Supreme Court to Hear Arguments in Climate Suit That Threatens to Cost Consumers Billions," Just the News, February 23, 2026.
- "Supreme Court to Hear ExxonMobil, Suncor Challenge to Colorado Climate Lawsuit," Fox Business, February 23, 2026.
- "U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Bid by Oil Companies to Toss Climate Suits in Boulder Case," Colorado Politics, February 23, 2026.
- "Why the Supreme Court Must Intervene in Boulder's Climate Lawsuit," RealClearEnergy, December 11, 2025.
- "Oil Companies Get Supreme Court Hearing on Climate Suits," Energy News Beat, February 2026.
- Suncor Energy Inc. and ExxonMobil Corporation, Petition for Writ of Certiorari, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 25-170, August 2025.
- Trump Administration, "Friend of the Court" Brief, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 25-170, September 2025.
