Supremes Deny Cert In Seventh Circuit Case Limiting Citizen Suit Standing
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a cert petition in the environmental citizen suit case of Pollack v. United States, 577 F.3d 736 (7th Cir. 2009). The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeal held the plaintiff lacked standing to sue for remediation of a government gun range because he failed to demonstrate actual harm due to alleged contamination.
Environmental advocacy groups historically have used citizen suits in lieu of legislation to advance policy goals. In many cases, these policy suits are based on very broad and non-specific allegations of harm, or even mere fears of potential harm. Pollack, however, holds that “Without some support for the assertion that he will be affected by the drift of polluted sediment or water, [plaintiff] has not shown that he has standing to pursue this lawsuit.”
In many citizen suit cases, proof of standing is tantamount to a victory on the merits. Pollack is significant because it places genuine scientific limits standing and, by extension, environmental citizen suits generally. However, as the concurring opinion points out, “the Supreme Court's case law on this subject is both unclear in purpose and extraordinarily difficult to reconcile." Consequently, Pollack's long term fate is unclear. For now, at least, Pollack provides GHG emitters with a defense against the environmental groups' promised citizen suit litigation assault.
