After I responded with a letter to the editor to William Barr's Wall Street Journal op-ed arguing that state-law-based tort suits against fossil fuel companies seeking redress for climate-related harms are preempted, Barr responded with a letter of his own, to which I offered a sur-reply. Here is a quick review of the argument, with some additional commentary.
In his initial op-ed, Barr argued that "disputes involving pollution that crosses state or international borders are the exclusive domain of federal law." My letter (and accompanying blog post) pointed out that this was wrong, noting the Supreme Court's decision in International Paper v. Ouellette in which the Court held that such suits are not preempted, but that common law nuisance suits over interstate pollution must apply the law of the source state, not that of the polluted plaintiff.
In his reply, Barr sought to argue that I "misread" Ouellette, writing:
