林赛·怀特赫斯特、布列塔尼·彼得森 科罗拉多州路易斯维尔——在收到野火正朝她所居住的郊区街道蔓延的首个警告不到一小时后，塔温雅·索马鲁的科罗拉多州住宅便已化为灰烬。
LINDSAY WHITEHURST, BRITTANY PETERSON LOUISVILLE, Colo. — Less than an hour after the first warning that a wildfire was headed for her suburban street, Tawnya Somauroo’s Colorado home was in ashes.
近五年来，她不知疲倦地重建房屋，并致力于确保她的社区能够抵御下一场火灾。但随着气候变化导致野火频发，她担心精心设计的景观绿化、金属围栏和阻燃外墙板并不足以应对威胁。
She has worked tirelessly for nearly five years to rebuild her house and help ensure her neighborhood can withstand the next blaze. But as climate change contributes to more frequent wildfires, she worries that the careful landscaping, metal fencing and flame-resistant siding are not enough.
“我们失去了家园，而他们却让我们自己想办法让社区重新变得安全，”索马鲁说。“归根结底，这些费用都得从我们自己的口袋里掏，对吧？而且感觉上，石油和天然气行业似乎也应该为此承担一部分责任。”她居住在博尔德县，美国有数十个司法管辖区正在起诉石油和天然气公司，要求它们为与气候变化相关的灾害损失分担赔偿。
“We lost our homes and they left us to figure out for ourselves how to make our neighborhoods safe again,” Somauroo said. “At the end of the day, it comes out of our pockets, you know? And it does feel like maybe the oil and gas industry should have a part in this.”She lives in Boulder County, one of dozens of jurisdictions across the United States suing oil and gas companies to help pay for damage from disasters linked to climate change.
此案是全国乃至全球气候变化诉讼浪潮的一部分，涉及数十亿美元的利益。周一，美国最高法院新会期的第一天，大法官们将审理博尔德案，该案的判决结果可能决定类似案件的命运。
The case is part of a wave of climate change litigation across the country and the world, with billions of dollars at stake. On Monday, the first day of the Supreme Court’s new term, the justices will hear the Boulder case that could decide the fate of others like it.
博尔德市和博尔德县早在2018年，即火灾发生前数年，就起诉了两家石油公司。他们主张，森科能源和埃克森美孚通过向公众隐瞒其对气候变化的贡献，违反了州法律，并寻求未指明金额的赔偿，以帮助覆盖日益严重的灾害成本。
The city and county of Boulder first sued two oil companies in 2018, years before the fire. They argued that Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil had violated state law by deceiving the public about their contributions to climate change and sought unspecified damages to help cover the cost of worsening disasters.
这些公司表示，在州法院提起大量诉讼并非应对这一全球性问题的正确方式。
The companies say that a flood of lawsuits in state courts is not the way to deal with the global issue.
“问题在于，气候变化几乎是由地球上所有人所导致的，”制造业责任项目这一行业组织的特别法律顾问菲尔·戈德堡说道。“我们必须想办法应对这一问题，而且要以切实有效的方式来解决。目前的诉讼却做不到这一点。”这些企业得到了特朗普政府的支持。联邦政府律师称，这些诉讼实际上是一种绕过正常程序来管控温室气体排放的手段，属于违宪的权力滥用行为。
“The problem is that climate change is caused by pretty much everybody living on earth,” said Phil Goldberg, special counsel for the Manufacturers’ Accountability Project, an industry group. “We need to figure out how to address that. We need to address it in a very meaningful way. This litigation doesn’t do that.”The companies have the backing of the Trump administration. Federal government attorneys say the lawsuits are a backdoor way to regulate heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions and amount to an unconstitutional power grab.
“任何一个州都无权将自己的监管偏好强加给其他州——尤其当要处理的是一个主要发生在境外、且影响整个世界的全球性问题时，”他们在文件中写道。
“No one state can superimpose its own regulatory preferences on the rest — least of all to address a global problem that exists almost entirely outside its borders and affects the world at large,” they wrote.
他们指出，《清洁空气法》规定，只有联邦政府而非各州才有权对排放行为实施监管。而本届共和党政府也主要利用这一权力来废除多项环保法规。
The Clean Air Act, they say, allows the federal government, rather than states, to regulate emissions. The Republican administration has largely used that power to roll back environmental regulations.
上个月，美国环境保护署废除了多项限制燃煤及天然气发电厂排放温室气体的规定，从而让渡了部分气候治理权限。这一举措可能会对其主张构成不利影响。
Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency ceded some of its climate authority by repealing rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas. The move could complicate its argument.
博尔德市方面则表示，他们并无意图对州境外的排放行为实施监管，只是希望让相关企业为其在当地造成的损害承担相应责任。
Boulder says it is not trying to regulate emissions beyond its borders, only holding companies accountable for local costs.
“博尔德县及该市并不打算改变德克萨斯州或纽约州的情况，他们只是希望就科罗拉多州当前发生的损害获得赔偿，”为本案提交法庭意见书的地球正义组织高级副总裁萨姆·桑卡尔说道。
“Boulder County and city aren’t trying to change what’s happening in Texas or New York, they’re trying to get compensation for things happening now in Colorado,” said Sam Sankar, senior vice president at Earthjustice, which filed an amicus brief in the case.
在该县最初提起诉讼后，气候变化被认定为2021年马歇尔大火的诱因之一，这场大火摧毁了索马罗的家园。据估算，火灾造成的损失总额高达20亿美元，也由此成为科罗拉多州历史上损失最惨重的野火事件。
Climate change was considered a factor in the 2021 Marshall Fire that destroyed Somauroo’s home, after the county’s suit was originally filed. The total damage was estimated at $2 billion. It was the costliest wildfire in Colorado history.
“地方县市政府在帮助一线社区适应气候变化方面发挥着非常重要的作用。此案很可能会开创先例，”科罗拉多州环境研究组织盖茨-威尔金森中心的执行董事克里斯·温特表示。
“Local county municipal governments play a very important role in helping front line communities adapt to climate change. This case could very well set a precedent,” said Chris Winter, executive director of the Getches-Wilkinson Center, an environmental research group in Colorado.
此案将由保守派占多数的最高法院审理，而环境监管在该院历来处境不佳，包括2022年的一项裁决限制了美国环境保护署对发电厂二氧化碳排放的监管权限。
The case will come before a conservative-majority Supreme Court where environmental regulations have not always fared well, including a 2022 decision that limited the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
不过，九名大法官中只有八人将参与审理。大法官塞缪尔·阿利托在辩论开始前一周申请回避，此前他因持有石油公司股票而面临要求其回避的呼声。
Only eight of the nine justices will be on the bench, though. Justice Samuel Alito recused himself just a week before arguments after facing calls to step aside because he owns stock in oil companies.
这为案件出现平票结果留下了可能性，尽管这种可能性有多大尚不清楚。法院还在权衡一个专家称之为潜在“退出机制”的问题，即大法官们在此阶段是否有权管辖此案。怀特赫斯特从华盛顿发回报道。
That creates the possibility of a tie vote in the case, though it’s unclear how likely that might be. The court is also weighing a question that experts say is a potential “off-ramp”: whether the justices have jurisdiction to hear the case at this stage. Whitehurst reported from Washington.