Native Alaskan Village Can't Sue Over Climate Change Using Federal Public Nuisance Law

Villagers say shrinking sea ice caused by global warming is eroding their environment, judge rules they have no standing because they can't trace their injuries to the energy companies they sued

Native Alaskans whose village is teetering on the edge of survival cannot use a federal public-nuisance law to nail energy giants on global warming, the 9th Circuit ruled Friday.

Kivalina is a tiny town on Alaska's northwest coast, located at the tip of a barrier reef some 70 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Most of the residents are self-governing Inupiat Native Alaskans.