“Puerto Rico Pulls Lawsuit Targeting Energy Companies As Legal Climate Shifts”, 6 May 2025

Puerto Rico’s legal assault on major oil companies has run aground, less than a year after it began. …

Puerto Rico filed court documents May 2 announcing it “voluntarily dismisses this entire case without prejudice,” meaning it could restart the suit. No reason was given for the decision.

It’s the latest setback for environmentalists who persuaded eight states and more than two dozen cities and counties to join a strategy of using local laws to target global energy producers. The governments accuse companies like Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Marathon Oil of violating local nuisance or consumer deception laws, to get big-dollar settlements …

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Puerto Rico’s suit was filed in 2024 when Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, a Democrat, was in office. The new governor, Jenniffer González-Colón, is a Republican.

Energy advocates had been pressuring González-Colón’s administration to end its suit. Canary CEO Dan Eberhart, a major donor to President Trump’s campaigns who also leads a Texas-based oilfield services company, warned González-Colón that the legal action against oil and gas producers went against Trump’s promises to unlock American energy...

Energy companies say the lawsuits arise under federal law. They argue the Clean Air Act regulates interstate emissions and supersedes state law.

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In the latest climate cases, the Supreme Court is allowing the case to move through the lower courts before it steps in...

With Puerto Rico ending its suit, Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., the lead attorney for Chevron, said the clock is ticking on the environmentalists’ strategy.

“This dismissal adds to the growing momentum among federal and state courts holding that states and municipalities cannot use state laws to sue over climate change. These claims are precluded and preempted by federal law and must be dismissed under clear U.S. Supreme Court precedent,” Boutrous said.

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The Justice Department said that states that pass superfund laws or sue Big Oil want to get around the Clean Air Act and violate the Constitution. Trump instructed Bondi last month to stop the climate suits in an executive order to “protect American energy from state overreach.”