What鈥檚 at stake as Boulder鈥檚 climate change lawsuit moves through the courts?

In The NoCo

What鈥檚 at stake as Boulder鈥檚 climate change lawsuit moves through the courts?

By In The NoCo,

Published February 24, 2025 at 5:35 AM MST

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A woman with pulled back black hair wears a jean jacket and smiles at the camera. — Parker Yamasaki is a reporter for the Colorado Sun who covered the recent hearing at the Colorado Supreme Court concerning the city and county of Boulder lawsuit against ExxonMobil and Suncor. She said Boulder's lawyers are comparing this lawsuit to suits against the tobacco industry and opioid manufacturers. They argue that, "for decades, oil companies have known that their products contribute to climate change and that they have misled the public in order to protect their business interests."

In 2018 the City of Boulder and Boulder County filed an unusual lawsuit: they sued Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy for contributing to climate change.

Climate change, , has caused a plethora of problems like flooding, road damage, and an increase in wildfires. The city and county have spent millions of dollars reacting to these problems.

And they wanted help paying for it.

Since the case was filed, more communities around the country have followed Boulder鈥檚 lead and brought similar lawsuits against fossil fuel companies.

Earlier this month, the Colorado Supreme Court held a hearing to determine the fate of this case.

So, while we await a decision, we wondered: What are the odds of this lawsuit moving forward? And how might it affect other communities dealing with climate change?

Erin O鈥橳oole spoke with Colorado Sun reporter who鈥檚 been covering the , to learn more.

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In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University鈥檚 NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family鈥檚 financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC鈥檚 new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Brad Turner

Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS 暗黑爆料hour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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