## Facts

- Youth plaintiffs and two nonprofit organizations sued several federal executive officials in their official capacities, alleging inadequate federal action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Plaintiffs alleged dangerous climate change would harm the youth plaintiffs and the organizations’ members.
- The complaint asserted a single claim based on a purported federal “public trust” duty to protect the atmosphere as a shared trust resource.
- Plaintiffs did not plead violations of a specific federal statute or constitutional provision.
- Plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief, including an order requiring the federal government to develop and implement a national plan to reduce U.S. emissions by a specified annual rate.
- Federal defendants and industry intervenors moved to dismiss, arguing the public trust doctrine is state law, does not create a federal cause of action, and any federal common-law claim would be displaced by federal environmental statutes (including the Clean Air Act).

## Issues

1. Whether the public trust doctrine provides a federal cause of action enforceable in federal court against federal officials for alleged failure to protect the atmosphere from climate change.
2. Whether a claim styled as a “federal public trust” claim arises under federal law for purposes of federal-question jurisdiction.
3. If a federal common-law public trust theory exists, whether it is displaced by the Clean Air Act with respect to greenhouse gas emissions.

## Decision

- The court granted the motions to dismiss and dismissed the complaint.
- The court held the public trust doctrine is a matter of state law and does not supply a federal cause of action as pleaded.
- The court concluded the complaint therefore did not arise under federal law and could not support federal-question jurisdiction.
- In the alternative, the court held that even assuming a federal common-law atmospheric trust claim exists, it would be displaced by the Clean Air Act under the displacement rationale applied to federal common law in controlling Supreme Court precedent.

## Legal Principles

- A plaintiff must identify a federal source of law (constitutional, statutory, treaty-based, or valid federal common law) to invoke federal-question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331.
- The public trust doctrine is generally a state-law doctrine and, standing alone, does not create a freestanding federal cause of action against federal officials.
- Federal common-law claims addressing emissions or air-pollution controls are subject to displacement where Congress has enacted a comprehensive statutory scheme delegating regulatory authority to an agency, including the Clean Air Act’s framework for regulating air pollutants.
- Where a pleaded theory depends entirely on a purported federal public trust obligation untethered to a specific federal right or duty, dismissal is appropriate for lack of a cognizable federal claim and absence of federal-question jurisdiction.

## Conclusion

The court dismissed the atmospheric public trust climate claim because the alleged trust duty did not constitute federal law sufficient to create a federal cause of action or federal-question jurisdiction; alternatively, any such federal common-law trust claim targeting greenhouse gas emissions would be displaced by the Clean Air Act.


Alec L. v. Jackson, 863 F. Supp. 2d 11 (D.D.C. 2012)