Day in court

It likely won't lead to any great change through litigation, but it's nonetheless significant that environmental groups have been given standing to sue the U.S. government over global warming:

A federal judge has ruled that environmental groups and four U.S. cities can sue federal development agencies on allegations that the overseas projects they financially back contribute to global warming...

(Friends of the Earth), in addition to Greenpeace and the cities of Boulder, Col., Santa Monica, Oakland and Arcata, Calif., sued Overseas Private Investment Corp. and the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Those government agencies provide loans and insure billions of dollars of U.S. investors' money for development projects overseas. Many of the projects are power plants that emit greenhouses gases that the groups allege cause global warming...

White did not rule whether those agencies must perform environmental assessments of projects they help fund, but simply said the groups have a right to sue. If White's decision stands, the issue of whether U.S. environmental rules apply to the projects backed by the agencies likely will be litigated, Shems said.

Unless there's a radical change in the works, the litigation itself won't lead to much by way of added requirements on the investment agencies. But if nothing else, it'll force the agencies to present their case (and all supporting documentation) to the court, and maybe add some more American public pressure on climate change. That's no panacea, but it's a start.