This commentary is by Gus Speth of Strafford. He is former chair of the Council on Environmental Quality for President Jimmy Carter, cofounder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, former dean of Yale’s School of the Environment, and former professor of law at Vermont Law and Graduate School.
Moving to Vermont 15 years ago, I was impressed by the civility of this place — and that included its politics.
There are few places remaining like Vermont where folks can drive to the capital, park in front of the Statehouse, walk inside the “people’s house” and speak directly with legislators.
Still, even here, stark and important policy disagreements can and do arise. Vermont citizens have with some regularity concluded that the state’s agencies are not implementing critical laws adequately or accurately.
For such situations the Vermont Legislature has provided a time-honored and dignified remedy, one that has proven essential, for example, in implementing our national clean air and water acts. Citizens are given access to impartial courts to hear their complaints and to decide the proper course forward in light of the law.
There is now a mountain of academic literature documenting that these accountability provisions have worked well. Indeed, after more than a half-century there is no doubt that citizen suits under these laws have been central, indeed fundamental, in protecting America’s public health and environment.
Now, an important disagreement has arisen under the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act, a landmark legislative enactment addressed to a most important issue.
Although the Global Warming Solutions Act was adopted four years ago, one of our best environmental groups, the Conservation Law Foundation, believes the state has failed to accurately model Vermont emissions and adopt sufficient measures to ensure the achievement of the legally required pollution reduction targets. The group on behalf of its members has deployed the law’s “citizen suit provision” to challenge the Scott administration.
Discouragingly, the administration in a prominent public statement has chosen to disparage both Conservation Law Foundation and citizen suits. Conflict is of course uncomfortable, and we can expect federal and state agencies to squirm when challenged through the courts, but we should all rejoice that we live in a country where citizens have the right and ability by law to challenge government decisions.
In a time when we face profound threats like climate change, these types of legal actions are more important than ever to protect our health, safety and future.
