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Home My WebLink AboutO 182Case Details - CourtView Justice Solutions https://records.courts.alaska.gov/eaccess/searchresults.page?x=X9jE 3AN-17-09910CI Sinnok, Esau et al vs. State of Alaska et al GAM Case Type: Civil Superior Ct (3AN) Case Status: Closed File Date: r 10/27/2017 r Action: Ir Other Civil Complaint - Superior Court Case Judge: i� Miller, Gregory A . Next Event: All Information Parry Event Docket Financial Receipt Disposition Party Information Sinnok, Esau - Plaintiff • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 L, Ltnnea - Plaintiff • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 0 Disp Date 0 Lentfer, Hank - Plaintiff • DOB 0 e Disposition o Disp Date 0 Alias_ - Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone •(907)694-4345 •, Attorney •' Welle, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Alias Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694.4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Alias Party Attorney ------ • Attomey • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)6944345 • Attorney • Welle, Andrew L •; Bar Code • NA19127 •IPhone Case Details - CourtView Justice Solutions https://records.courts.alaska.gov/eaccess/searchresults.page?x=X9jE I Elizarde, Tasha - Plaintiff • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 Terada, Cade - Plaintiff • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 K. Kayttyn - Plaintiff • DOB 0 0 Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 Kelly, Maurice Plaintiff • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 Conwell, Brian - Plaintiff • DOB 0 Alias Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code •', NA19127 • Phone Alias Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Welle, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Alias Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Alias Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 :Phone Alias Case Details - CourtView Justice Solutions o Disposition o Disp Date 0 S, Jode - Plaintiff • DOB o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 Sparks, Connie - Plaintiff • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 Kurland, Margaret - Plaintiff • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 D, Lexine - Plaintiff • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 https://records.courts.alaska.gov/eaccess/searchresults.page?x=X9jD (. Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Alias Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wels, Andrew L Bari Code •iINA19127 • Phone Alias Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L •,Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Alias Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Alias Party Attorney • Attorney j • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 Case Details - CourtView Justice Solutions https://records.court_s.alaska.gov/eaccess/searchresults.page?x=X9jr f • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Welle, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Demlentieff, Bernadette - Plaintiff • DOB 0 Alias o Disposition Party Attorney 0 • Attorney o Disp Date • DeNoble, Brad D o • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694.4345 • Attorney • Welle, Andrew • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone B, Elizabeth Plaintiff DOB • DOB Alias 0 o Disposition Party Attorney o • Attorney o Disp Date • DeNoble, Brad D o • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Welle, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Bessenyey, Ilona - Plaintiff • DOB Alias 0 o Disposition Party Attorney o .''Attorney o Disp Date • DeNoble, Brad D o . Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Welle, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone D, Vanessa - Plaintiff . DOB Alias 0 0 Disposition Party Attorney 0 .Attorney 0 Disp Date • DeNoble, Brad D o • Bar Code • 9806009 . Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Welle, Andrew L • Bar Code Case Details - CourtView Justice Solutions https://records.courts.alaska.gov/eaccess/searchresults.page?x=X9jE ( • NA19127 • Phone Duhrsen, Julee - Plaintiff • DOB 0 Alias o Disposition Party Attorney 0 • Attorney o Disp Date • DeNoble, Brad D 0 • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone L, Ananda Rose Ahtahkee Plaintiff • DOB Alias 0 o Disposition Party Attorney 0 • Attorney o Disp Date . DeNoble, Brad D 0 • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)6944345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Lankard, Olen - Plaintiff • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 Mush, Griffin - Plaintiff • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 _.Alias AKA Lankard, Dune Alias Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Case Details - CourtView Justice Solutions https://records. courts. alaska.gov/eaccess/searchresults.page?x=X9jr S, Ceeily - Plaintiff • DOB Alias 0 0 Disposition Party Attorney 0 • Attorney o Disp Date • DeNoble, Brad D o • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone S, Lila - Plaintiff • DOB 0 Alias o Disposition Party Attorney o • Attorney o Disp Date • DeNoble, Brad D o • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Weiss, Miranda - Plaintiff • DOB o Alias o Disposition _ Party Attorney o • Attorney o Disp Date • DeNoble, Brad D o • Bar Code • 9806009 -,Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Shavelson, Bob - Plaintiff •DOB Alias�� 0 o Disposition Party Attomey o • Attorney u Disp Date • DeNoble, Brad D o • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone S, Summer - Plaintiff • DOB Alias 0 Case Details - CourtView Justice Solutions https://records.courts.aaska.gov/eaccess/searchresults.page?x=X9jE o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 Sagoonick, Melanie - Plaintiff • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 State of Alaska Defendant • DOB 0 o Disposition o Disp Dale 0 Walker, William - Defendant • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation - Defendant • DOB 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 Hartig, Lawrence - Defendant • DOB _ 0 o Disposition 0 o Disp Date 0 Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Welle, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Alias Party Attorney • Attorney • DeNoble, Brad D • Bar Code • 9806009 • Phone • (907)694-4345 • Attorney • Wells, Andrew L • Bar Code • NA19127 • Phone Alias Party AtIcmey • Attorney • Beausang, Seth M •' Bar Code •11111078 •i Phone Alias Party Attorney Alias Party Attorney • Attorney • Beausang, Seth M • Bar Code • 1111078 • Phone Alias Party Attorney • Attorney • Beausang, Seth M • Bar Code •1111078 •IPhone Case Details - CourtView Justice Solutions https:Hrecords.courts. alaska.gov/eaccess/searchresults.page?x=X9jr Alaska Dept of Natural Resources - Defendant • DOB 0 Alias o Disposition Party Attorney 0 • Attorney o Disp Date • Beausang, Seth M 0 • Bar Code • 1111078 • Phone Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission - Defendant • DOB Alias 0 o Disposition Party Attorney 0 • Attorney o Disp Date • Beausang, Seth M 0 • Bar Code • 1111078 • Phone Alaska Energy Authority - Defendant • DOB Alias 0 c Disposition Party Attorney o . Attorney o Disp Date • Beausang, Seth M 0 . Bar Code • 1111078 • Phone Regulatory Commission of Alaska - Defendant • DOB Alias o o Disposition Parry Attorney o . Attorney o Disp Date • Beausang, Seth M o . Bar Code • 1111078 • Phone Events Date/rime Location Type Result EventJudge 04/30/2018 02:30 PM Courtroom 602, Nesbett Courthouse Oral Argument Hearing Held Miller, Gregory A Docket Information Date Docket Text 10/2712017 Initial Judicial Assignment: Honorable Mark Rindner 10/27/2017 Superior Court Complaint Receipt: 1454756 Date: 10/27/2017 10/27/2017 Summons and Notice to Both Parties of Judicial Assignment 10/2712017 Attorney Information Attorney DeNoble, Brad D representing Plaintiffs: Esau Sinnok (Plaintiff); Linnea L (Plaintiff); Hank Lender (Plaintiff); Tasha Elizarde (Plaintiff); Cade Terada (Plaintiff); Kaytiyn K (Plaintiff); Maurice Kelly (Plaintiff); Brian Conwell (Plaintiff); Jode S (Plaintiff); Connie Sparks (Plaintiff); Margaret Kuriand (Plaintiff); Liudne D (Plaintiff); Bernadette Demientieff (Plaintiff); Elizabeth 8 (Plaintiff); Ilona Bewenyey (Plaintiff); Vanessa D (Plaintiff); Jules Duhmen (Plaintiff); Ananda Rose Ahtahkee L (Plaintiff); Glen Lankard (Plaintiff); Griffin Flush (Plaintiff); Cecily S (Plaintiff); Lila S (Plaintiff); Miranda Weiss (Plaintiff); Bob Shavelson (Plaintiff); Summer S (Plaintiff); Melanie Sagoonick (Plaintiff); as of 10/2712017. Case Details - CourtView Justice Solutions https://records.courts.aaska.gov/eaccess/searchresults.page?x=X9jE Date Docket Text 11/0312017 Return of Service - Summons Served On Alaska Dept of Natural Resources (Defendant); 11/0312017 Return of Service - Summons Served On: Lawrence Hartig (Defendant); 11/03/2017 Return of Service - Summons Served On: Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation (Defendant); 1110312017 Return of Service - Summons Served On: William Walker (Defendant); 11/03/2017 Return of Service - Summons Served On: Regulatory Commission of Alaska (Defendant); 1110312017 Return of Service - Summons Served On: Alaska Energy Authority (Defendant); 11/03/2017 Return of Service - Summons Served On: Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (Defendant); 11/03/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Beausang, Seth M representing Defendant Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation as of 11/03/2017 11/0312017 Notice of Change of Judge (Peremptory Challenge) Seth M Beausang (Attorney) on behalf of Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation (Defendant) 11/0312017 Peremptory Disqualification by Defendant/Respondent Case Has Been Reassigned to Judge Crosby 11/0912017 Rule 4(f) Proof of Service Brad D DeNoble (Attorney) on behalf of Esau Sinnok (Plaintiff) 1111712017 Motion to Appear Pro Hac Vice on Behalf of Plaintiffs Re: Andrew L. Welle - Lacks Proposed Order Us 11-20-17 Attorney: DeNoble, Brad D (9806009) Esau Sinnok (Plaintiff); Linnea L (Plaintiff); Hank Lenffer (Plaintiff); Tasha EI¢arde (Plaintiff); Cade Terada (Plaintiff); Kaytiyn K (Plaintiff); Maurice Kelly (Plaintiff); Brian Conwell (Plaintiff); Jode S (Plaintiff); Connie Sparks (Plaintiff); Margaret Kurland (Plaintiff); Lexine D (Plaintiff); Bernadette Demienlieff (Plaintiff); Elizabeth B (Plaintiff); Ilona Bessenyey (Plaintiff); Vanessa D (Plaintiff); Julee Outman (Plaintiff); Ananda Rose Ahtahkee L (Plaintiff); Glen Lankard (Plaintiff; Griffin Plush (Plaintiff); Cedly S (Plaintiff); Lila S (Plaintiff); Miranda Weiss (Plaintiff); Bob Shavelwn (Plainfiff); Summer S (Plaintiff); Melanie Sagowick (Plaintiff); Filing Party: Sinnok, Esau; L, Linnea; Lentfer, Hank; Elizarde, Tasha; Terada, Cade; K, Kayttyn; Kelly, Maurice; Conwell, Brian; S. Jode; Sparks, Connie; Kurand, Margaret; D, Lexine; Demientieff, Bernadette; B, Elizabeth; Bessenyey, Ilona; D, Vanessa; Duhmen, Julee; L. Ananda Rose Ahtahkee; Lankard, Glen; Plush, Griffin; S, Cedly; S, Lila; Weiss, Miranda; Shavelson, Bob; S. Summer; Sagoonick, Melanie; Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation Case Motion #1 11/20/2017 Notice of Deficient Filing(s) mailed re: Proposed order for your motion to appear pro hac vice that was filed on 11-17-17 as required by Civil Rule 77. Notice of Deficient Filing (Anchorage) (8/14) Sent on: 11 /202017 10:50:21.91 11/30/2017 Recusel by Judge Crosby - case reassigned to Judge Miller 12101/2017 Proposed Order Attorney: DeNoble, Brad D (9806009) Case Motion #1: Motion to Appear Pro Hac Vice on Behalf of Plaintiffs Re: Andrew L. Welle - Lacks Proposed Order Gs 11-20-17 12/11/2017 Motion to Dismiss Attorney: Beausang, Seth M (1111078) Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation (Defendant);: Seth M Beausang (Attorney) on behalf of Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation (Defendant) Filing Party: Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation Case Motion #2 Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation (Defendant); ; Seth M Beausang (Attorney) on behalf of Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation, Lawrence Hartig, Alaska Dept of Natural Resources, Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Alaska Energy Authority, Regulatory Commission of Alaska (Defendant) 12/112017 Brief in Support of Motion to Dismiss Attorney: Beausang, Seth M (1111078) Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation (Defendant); Case Motion #2: Motion to Dismiss 12/11/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Beausang, Seth M representing Defendant Alaska Dept of Natural Resources as of 12/112017 12M1/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Beausang, Seth M representing Defendant Alaska Energy Authority as of 12/11/2017 12/11/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Beausang, Seth M representing Defendant Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission as of 121112017 12/11/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Beausang, Seth M representing Defendant Regulatory Commission of Alaska as of 121112017 Case Details - CourtView Justice Solutions https://records.courts.alaska.gov/eaccess/searchresuIMpage?x=X9jE Date Docket Text 12/11/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Beausang, Seth M representing Defendant Hartig, Lawrence as of 1211112017 12/11/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Beausang, Seth M representing Defendant State of Alaska as of 12/11/2017 12/15/2017 Unopposed Motion for Extension of Time to Oppose Motion to Dismiss Utnil 1-19-18 Attorney: DeNoble, Brad D (9806009) Esau Sinnok (Plaintiff); ; Brad D DeNoble (Attorney) on behalf of Esau Sinnok (Plaintiff) Filing Party: Sinnok, Esau Case Motion #3 12/1512017 Order Granting Motion L, Linnea Case Motion #1 Motion to Appear Pro Hac Yce on Behalf of Plaintiffs Re: Andrew L. Wells - Lacks Proposed Order cls 11-20-17 12/15/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff B, Elizabeth as of 12/15/2017 12/15/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Bessenyey, Ilona as of 12/15/2017 12115/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Conwell, Brian as of 12/15/2017 12/15/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff D, Lexine as of 12/15/2017 1211512017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff D. Vanessa as of 12/15/2017 12/15/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Demientieff, Bernadette as of 12115/2017 12/1512017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Duhrsen, Jules as of 12/15/2017 12/15/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Elizarde, Tasha as of 12/15/2017 12/15/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff K. Kaytlyn as of 12115/2017 12/15/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Kelly, Maurice as of 12115/2017 12115/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Kurland, Margaret as of 12/15/2017 12115/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff L, Ananda Rose Ahtahkee as of 12/1512017 12/15/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff L, Linnea as of 12/1512017 12115/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Lankard, Glen as of 12115/2017 12/1512017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Lentter, Hank as of 12/1512017 12/1512017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Plush, Griffin as of 121152017 12/15/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff S, Cecily as of 12/15/2017 12/1512017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff S. Jode as of 12/15/2017 12115/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff S, Lila as of 1211512017 12115/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff S, Summer as of 12/15/2017 1211512017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Sagoonick, Melanie as of 12JI512017 12/1512017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Shavelson, Bob as of 12/15/2017 12/1512017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Sinnok, Esau as of 12/15/2017 Case Details - CourtView Justice Solutions https://records.courts.alaska.gov/eaccess/searchresults.page?x=X9jE Date Docket Text 12/15/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Sparks, Connie as of 12/15/2017 12/15/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells. Andrew L representing Plaintiff Terada, Cade as of 12/15/2017 12/15/2017 Attorney Information Attorney Wells, Andrew L representing Plaintiff Weiss, Miranda as of 12/15/2017 12118/2017 Order on Unopposed Motion for Extension of Time Case Motion #2: Motion to Dismiss, Case Motion #3: Unopposed Motion for Extension of Time to Oppose Motion to Dismiss Utml 1-19-18 01/1912018 Plaintiffs' Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Brad D DeNoble (Attorney) on behalf of Esau Sinnok (Plaintiff) Case Motion #2: Motion to Dismiss 01/22/2018 Unopposed Motion for 2 Week Extension of Time to File Reply Brief Until 2-9-18 Attorney: Beausang, Seth M (1111078) State of Alaska (Defendant); Filing Party: State of Alaska Case Motion #4 01/23/2018 Order Granting Unopposed Motion For Extension of Time Case Motion #2: Motion to Dismiss, Case Motion #4: Unopposed Motion for 2 Week Extension of Time to File Reply Brief Until 2-9-18 01/24/2018 Request for Oral Argument Attorney: DeNoble, Brad D (9806009) Esau Sinnok (Plaintiff); ; Brad D DeNoble (Attorney) on behalf of Esau Sinnok (Plaintiff) Case Motion #2: Motion to Dismiss 02/12/2018 Reply Brief in Support of Defendants Motion to Dismiss Attorney: Beausang, Seth M (1111078) State of Alaska (Defendant); ; Seth M Beausang (Attomey) on behalf of State of Alaska (Defendant) Case Motion #2: Motion to Dismiss 02J1212018 Unopposed Motion for Leave to File Ex. A to Defendants Opening Brief in Support of the Motion to Dismiss Attorney: Beausang, Seth M (1111078) State of Alaska (Defendant); ; Seth M Beausang (Attorney) on behalf of State of Alaska (Defendant) Filing Party: State of Alaska Case Motion #5 02/13/2018 Order Granting Motion Case Motion #5: Unopposed Motion for Leave to File Ex. A to Defendants Opening Brief in Support of the Motion to Dismiss 02115/2018 Order Granting Oral Argument 0212612018 Order Requesting The Filing Of Referenced Letter Case Motion #2: Motion to Dismiss 03102/2018 Plaintiffs Notice of Filing (Letter From Department of Environmental Conservation) Attorney: DeNoble, Brad D (9806009) Esau Sinnok (Plaintiff); Linnea L (Plaintiff); Hank Lentfer (Plaintiff); Tasha Elizarde (Plaintiff); Cade Terada (Plaintiff); Kaytiyn K (Plaintiff): Maurice Kelly (Plaintiff); 03/05/2018 Plaintiffs Corrected Notice of Filing Attorney: DeNoble, Brad D (9806009) 03/12/2018 Opinion Seth M Beausang (Attorney) on behalf of State of Alaska (Defendant) 04/19/2018 Media Coverage / Application and Approval O5/0712018 CD/Tape Duplication Receipt: 1516024 Date: 05/07/2018 05/30/2018 Copies Made per Admin Rule 9 (e)(1) For a single document or portion of a document $5 If copies of multiple documents are requested at the same time, for each additional document (after the first) $3 Receipt: 1522259 Date: 05/3012018 05/30/2018 Copies Made per Admin Rule 9 (e)(1) For a single document or portion of a document $5 If copies of multiple documents are requested at the same time, for each additional document (after the first) $3 Receipt: 1522260 Date: O5/30/2018 08/24/2018 Amended Complaint for Declaratory and Equitable Relief Attorney: DeNoble, Brad D (9806009) 10/30/2018 Proposed Order Not Used Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation Case Motion #2 Motion to Dismiss Case Details - CourtView Justice Solutions https://records.courts. alaska.gov/eaccess/searchresults.page?x=X9jD Date Docket Text 10/3012018 Order Granting State's Motion to Dismiss Brad D DeNoble (Attorney) on behalf of Esau Sinnok (Plaintiff); Seth M Beausang (Attorney) on behalf of Alaska Energy Authority (Defendant); Andrew L Wells (Attorney) on behalf of Esau Sinnok (Plaintiff) Case Motion #2: Motion to Dismiss 10/3012018 Case Dismissed. Case Closed. 12/11/2018 Appeal Filed in the Supreme Court Case No: S-17297 Financial Summary Cost Type Amount Owed Amount Paid Amount Adjusted Amount Outstanding Filing Fee $200.00 $200.00 $0.00 $0.00 Miscellaneous Revenue $30.00 $30.00 $0.00 $0.00 Total Total Total Total Total $230.00 $230.00 $0.00 $0.00 Receipts Receipt Number Receipt Date Payment Amount 1454756 10/27/2017 $200.00 1516024 05/0712018 $20.00 1522259 05/30/2018 $5.00 1522260 05/30/2018 $5.00 Total Total Total $230.00 Case Disposition Disposition Date Case Judge Perempt Disqual by Defendant/Respondwt/Appellee 11/03/2017 Rindner, Mark Recusal by Judge 11/30/2017 Crosby, Dan! R Dismissed - Other. Case Closed. 10130/2018 Miller, Gregory A IN THE DISTRICT/SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE STATE OF ALASECEIVED AT ANCHORAGE 1JOV 0 1 2017 ESQ+ Snnek e+ a� ) Plaintiff(s), ) p1OGCiCi 5ia�1 mF /�IaSka ak U( Defendant(s). CASE NO. 3AN- 1-7 A c),/V c = SUMMONS AND NOTICE TO BOTH PARTIES OF JUDICIAL ASSIGNMENT To Defendant: Aksk 604 6w> Cy4j,"V f*an (oMm i s Stun You are hereby summoned and required to file with the court a written answer to the complaint which accompanies this summons. Your answer must be filed with the court at 825 W. 4th Ave., Anchorage, Alaska 99501 within 20 days* after the day you receive this summons. In addition, a copy of your answer must be sent to the plaintiff's attorney or plaintiff (if unrepresented) _ Srop. p4 A o6ke- „ , , , , whose address is: ® If you fail to file your answer within the required time, a default judgment may be entered c*4 against you for the relief demanded in the complaint. rk If you are not represented by an attorney, you must inform the court and all other parties in this case, in writing, of your current mailing address and any future changes to your mailing address and telephone number. You may use court form Notice of Change of Address / Telephone Number (TF-955), available at the clerk's office or on the court system's website at www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/webdocs/forms/tf-955.1)d to inform the court. - OR If you have an attorney, the attorney must comply with Alaska R. Civ. P. 5(i). NOTICE OF JUDICIAL ASSIGNMENT TO: Plaintiff and Defendant You are hereby given notice that: This case has been assigned to Superior Court Judge -114'J&,4Jz —/12 and to a magistrate judge. ❑ This case has been assigned to District Court Judge CLERK OF COURT / By:ACler Date Dep I certify that on a copy of this Summons was ❑mailed 00 given to ❑ plaintiff laintiff's counsel along with a copy of the ❑ Domestic Relations P ocedural Order ❑ Civil Pre -Trial Order to serve on the defend t with the summons. Deputy Clerk * The State or a statJ officer or agency named as a defendant has 40 days to file its answer. If you have been served with this summons outside the United States, you also have 40 days to file your answer. CIV-100 ANCH (10/17)(cs) Civil Rules 4, 5, 12, 42(c), 55 SUMMONS Brad D. De Noble De Noble Law Offices LLC 11517 Old Glenn Hwy, Suite 202 Eagle River, Alaska 99577 (907)694-4345 Andrew L. Welle Attorney at Law 1216 Lincoln Street Eugene, Oregon 97401 (574)315-5565 Attorneys for Plaintiffs IN THE SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE STATE OF ALASKA THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT AT ANCHORAGE ESAU SINNOK; LINNEA L., a minor, ) by and through her guardian, HANK ) LENTFER; TASHA ELIZARDE; CADE ) TERADA; KAYTLYN K_, a minor, by and ) through her guardian, MAURICE KELLY; ) BRIAN CONWELL; JODE S., a minor, by ) and through his guardian, CONNIE ) SPARKS; MARGARET KURLAND; ) LEXINE D., a minor, by and through her ) guardian, BERNADETTE DEMIENTIEFF ) ELIZABETH B., a minor, by and through ) her guardian, ILONA BESSENYEY; ) VANESSA D., a minor, by and through her ) Guardian, JULEE DUHRSEN; ANANDA ) ROSE AHTAHKEE L., a minor, by and ) Through her guardian, GLEN "DUNE" ) LANKARD; GRIFFIN PLUSH; CECILY S.) and Lila S., minors, by and through their ) guardians, MIRANDA WEISS and BOB ) SHAVELSON; and SUMMER S., a minor ) a minor, by and through her guardian, ) MELANIE SAGOONICK ) Plaintiffs, ) V. ) STATE OF ALASKA; ) WILLIAM WALKER, Governor of the ) Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 1 of 95 3AN-17- CI State of Alaska, in his official capacity; ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION; LAWRENCE HARTIG, Commissioner of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, in his official capacity; ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES; ALASKA OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION COMMISSION; ALASKA ENERGY AUTHORITY; and REGULATORY COMMISSION OF ALASKA Defendants. Case No. 3AN-17- CI COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND EQUITABLE RELIEF Plaintiffs, by and through their counsel, hereby seek declaratory and equitable relief against Defendants State of Alaska; William Walker, Governor of State of Alaska, in his official capacity; Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation ("DEC"); Lawrence Hartig, Commissioner of DEC, in his official capacity; Alaska Department of Natural Resources ("DNR"); Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission ("AOGCC"); Alaska Energy Authority ("AEA"); and Regulatory Commission of Alaska ("RCA") (together, with DEC, DNR, AOGCC, and AEA, "Agency Defendants") for violations of Plaintiffs' due process, equal protection, and Public Trust rights under the Alaska Constitution arising from Defendants' knowing, historic, and ongoing causation of and contributions to the current climate crisis, and the abrogation of their duty to protect the atmosphere, climate system, waters, atmosphere, fish, wildlife and other crucial natural resources from the effects of greenhouse gas pollution and secure a future for Plaintiffs and Alaska's children. For their complaint, Plaintiffs allege as follows: NATURE OF THE CASE Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 2 of 95 3AN-17- Cl 1. Esau Sinnok, Linnea L., Tasha Elizarde, Cade Terada, Kaytlyn K., Brian Conwell, Jode S., Margaret Kurland, Bernadette D., Elizabeth B., Vanessa D., Ananda Rose Ahtahkee L., Griffin Plush, Cecily S., Lila S., and Summer S., many of whom are minor children bringing this case through their respective guardians (collectively "Youth Plaintiffs" or "Plaintiffs'), hereby ask this Court to enforce Alaska's constitutional obligations to protect their inalienable and fundamental constitutional rights to life, liberty, property, equal protection, public trust resources, and a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberty. Youth Plaintiffs bring this case pursuant to AS 22.10.020, the Alaska Declaratory Judgment Act, and the Alaska Constitution. 2. Youth Plaintiffs depend on vital natural resources to exercise their inherent rights; these vital natural resources are and will continue to be adversely impacted by excessive human —caused emissions of carbon dioxide ("CO2"). As a result of human -caused CO2 emissions, global atmospheric CO2 concentrations now exceed 403 parts per million ("ppm'), destabilizing our climate system, and have reached recent annual peak concentrations exceeding 410 ppm, as compared to the stable pre -industrial levels of 280 ppm. Pollution of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (collectively, "GHGs") is causing dangerously increasing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, rising seas and storm surge flooding, thawing permafrost, increasing droughts and violent storms, ocean acidification and waning, coastal erosion, freshwater degradation, increased wildfires, resource and species extinctions, increased pestilence with resultant diseases and other adverse health risks, and other adverse impacts (collectively, "Climate Change Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 3 of 95 3AN-17- Cl Impacts"), all of which threaten the habitability of Alaska and the safety and wellbeing of these Youth Plaintiffs. 4. All of Alaska's Public Trust resources, including, without limitation, waters (surface, subsurface, and atmospheric), fish, and wildlife, air (atmosphere), the climate system, the sea and the shores of the sea, submerged and submersible lands, beaches, forests, and tundra (each individually a "Public Trust Resource," and collectively "Public Trust Resources"), and correlative public uses to such resources, including, without limitation, public access, fishing, and navigation, are essential for Youth Plaintiffs' rights to life, liberty, and property. 5. Youth Plaintiffs and their families are currently, and will increasingly be, banned and suffer injuries from Climate Change Impacts to Alaska's Public Trust Resources. 6. Defendants have longstanding knowledge of the perils that GHG emissions and climate change pose to Youth Plaintiffs' safety. Notwithstanding that knowledge, and extended opportunities spanning decades to mitigate Alaska's contribution to the climate crisis, Defendants have persisted in a systemic course of conduct with respect to CO2 and GHG emissions that has caused and contributed to dangerous concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere. Defendants have failed to use their authority to mitigate Alaska's GHG emissions and safeguard Plaintiffs' fundamental and inalienable rights. By and through their affirmative aggregate and systemic actions with respect to fossil fuels, CO2 and GHG emissions, Defendants have demonstrated that their policy, practice, and custom with respect to climate change in Alaska (hereinafter Complaint Page 4 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI "Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy" or "Climate and Energy policy,), consists of. 1) systemic authorization, permitting, encouragement, and facilitation of activities resulting in dangerous levels of GHG emissions, without regard to Climate Change Impacts or any climate change mitigation standards, and 2) perpetual denial and delay of development of climate change mitigation standards, plans, and actions. By and through their Climate and Energy Policy, as evidenced by and effectuated through their affirmative aggregate and systemic actions, Defendants have materially caused and contributed to, and continue to materially cause and contribute to climate change and Climate Change Impacts. 8. Defendants have constitutional duties to refrain from actions which violate the fundamental and inalienable rights of Youth Plaintiffs by materially causing, contributing to, and exacerbating climate change and Climate Change Impacts. Defendants also have constitutional duties, affirmed by statute, to protect Youth Plaintiffs from climate change and Climate Change Impacts. 9. Defendants have the constitutional and delegated authority and obligation to reduce the State of Alaska's GHG emissions at least in line with global average reductions necessary to avert the worst Climate Change Impacts and preserve Youth Plaintiffs' fundamental and inalienable constitutional and Public Trust Rights. Despite longstanding knowledge of the dangers of GHG pollution, Defendants have failed to implement their authority in such a manner, instead actively infringing Youth Plaintiffs' fundamental rights by and through the continued implementation of their Climate and Energy Policy. Complaint Page 5 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI 10. Plaintiffs bring this suit to enforce sections 1, 7, and 21 of Article I of the Alaska Constitution and Article VIII of the Alaska Constitution. JURISDICTION AND VENUE 11. The Court has subject matter jurisdiction over Counts I through 4 under AS 22.10.020. 12• The Court has subject matter jurisdiction over Count 5 under AS 22.10.020 and pursuant to Johns v. Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission, 699 P.2d 334 (Alaska 1985). 13. Venue is proper in this Court under Civil Rule 3 and AS 22.10.030. PLAINTIFFS 14. Plaintiff Qaggigluilaq, given name Esau Sinnok, is Iflupiaq Eskimo from the island of Shishmaref, Alaska. Esau is nineteen years old and has dedicated much of his life to climate advocacy. He has been an Arctic Youth Ambassador, attended national and international climate conferences including COP 21, and has worked closely with Alaska Youth for Environmental Action. Esau currently attends the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where he is pursuing degrees in tribal management and Alaska Native studies. Esau hopes to use his degrees to further advocate for Shishmaref as a state representative. 15. Climate change is already harming, and threatens the very existence of Esau's home village and native culture. Esau's people have inhabited the lands on and around the island of Shishmaref for over 4,000 years. However, as a result of climate change the land on which Shishmaref sits is eroding into the ocean. Sea ice around Shishmaref has historically been a buffer against storms, storm surges, and flooding. However, climate change is resulting in loss of sea ice around Esau's village. Sea ice is Complaint Page 6 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl forming later and melting earlier in the season and is not as abundant or thick as it was before climate change. Combined with climate change induced sea level rise, more frequent and intense storm surges and floods are eroding the island of Shishmaref and contributing to the accelerating thaw of the permafrost underlying the community. The erosion, storms, and flooding is particularly bad in the fall, and is getting worse every year. Three to four meters of land is lost from Shishmaref to the sea every year. The village's homes and infrastructure are threatened by this erosion, which has taken as much as 15 meters of land overnight in a single storm. Already, 19 homes have had to be relocated away from the eroding coastline to other parts of the island. Esau's home is in the middle of the less than one -mile -wide island and his grandparent's home, where he grew up and often visits, is directly on the coast. During a large storm in 2004, Esau had to help evacuate his grandparents and all of their things from their home because ocean waves were slamming against the house. Each storm erodes the banks of the island and exposes more permafrost, which then thaws more quickly and accelerates further erosion. Because of this increasingly urgent situation, Shishmaref needs to relocate the village entirely. The community has voted to relocate to safer ground three times, most recently in 2016. However, Shishmaref does not have the resources to fund relocation. As climate impacts worsen, Esau's home will also become uninhabitable. 16. Ninety percent of Esau's Shishmaref diet comes from the land and sea. Esau's diet is based on traditional food sources including: blueberries, salmonberries, blackberries, caribou, moose, seal, ugruk (bearded seal), walrus, salmon, tomcod, whitefish, smelts, grayling geese, duck, and ptarmigan. Esau has participated in traditional subsistence activities throughout his entire life, but climate change is making Complaint Page 7 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI traditional subsistence activities more difficult and dangerous. The Chukchi Sea ice around Shishmaref provides a platform for Esau's traditional hunting practices. Climate change is dramatically reducing the extent of arctic sea ice. Each winter season the sea ice is less extensive and is thinner than it used to be. Sea ice is forming later and melting earlier in the season than it did before climate change. The 2016-17 winter had a record low seasonal maximum sea ice extent. The ice used to freeze completely in October and be safe to travel on. But now the ice does not become solidly frozen enough to be safe to walk on until much later in the winter. Even then, the sea ice undergoes freeze and thaw cycles that make it dangerous for travel. Reduced sea ice harms Esau's and his family's ability to go out and access their winter food sources. Last winter, the sea ice was not solidly frozen enough to safely walk on until late January. Esau and his family lost months of hunting time as a result, harming their food supply. Tragically, Esau's uncle passed away when he fell through thin sea ice. He was hunting for geese and duck in an area where the ice was historically thick and safe for travel at that time of year. 17. Increasingly severe and frequent storm make hunting more dangerous and difficult. One year, high winds and flooding resulted in Esau's family's meat racks being blown into the sea. Fall flooding is occurring more frequently and getting worse in Shishmaref each year. The high waters and dangerous conditions make it difficult for Esau and his community to obtain moose and seal. 18. Esau and his family rely upon snow for travel during the wintertime. With warming temperatures and changing precipitation patterns, snow has become less abundant. Snow comes later to Shishmaref, melts earlier, and increasingly falls as rain. This makes travel for hunting and recreation difficult, harming Esau's subsistence Complaint Page 8 of 95 Smock et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI activities and diet. For instance, without adequate snow cover, Esau cannot use a snow machine to leave the village to hunt caribou. 19. Most residents in Shishmaref have no running water. In the wintertime Esau and his family rely on adequate snow cover to be able to travel by snow machine the five or six miles to the pond where they gather ice to thaw for drinking water. As the climate warms and snow cover is reduced, it is increasingly difficult to make the trip. The pond also does not freeze over as much as it used to, allowing surrounding debris to contaminate the ice and water and harming Esau's freshwater supply. 20. Climate change is having negative effects on the species that compose Esau's subsistence diet and his family's ability to safely store them in traditional ways. Species like walrus and seals depend on the sea ice and are threatened and harmed by sea ice reductions. Warmer winters with less snow cover on the tundra lead to smaller berries that bloom earlier in the season than they used to. Warmer winters with more Precipitation falling as rain lead to a thick ice crust on the snow surface. This makes it difficult for caribou to access their food on the tundra. In 2014, a particularly icy winter, the caribou around Shishmaref were unable to dig through the ice to access their food. The animals were skinnier than usual and provided less meat. Esau's family is no longer able to safely store the food that they harvest in traditional underground ice cellars. Warming temperatures and permafrost melt are flooding ice cellars and endangering stored food supplies, which harms Esau's food security. 21. Esau is harmed by increased wildfires in Alaska. Esau began traveling to Fairbanks for school in 2010, and since that time, he has noticed an increase in the intensity and duration of the wildfire season. During the record -setting fire season of Complaint Page 9 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 2015, Esau had to wear a mask over his nose and mouth to filter the air, because the wildfire smoke made the air quality dangerous to human health. Esau enjoys hiking, rock climbing, biking, and spending time outside in Fairbanks, but he has often been unable to participate in these activities in the summers because of smoke from wildfires reducing air quality. 22. Climate change gravely threatens Esau's native traditions, heritage, and culture. Esau's Ihupiaq culture is intimately connected to the lands and waters around Shishmaref: it is deeply place -based. Since time immemorial, elders have passed down traditional knowledge of the weather, lands, waters, and animals around Shishmaref. Climate change threatens that cultural transmission because traditional knowledge and understanding no longer align with changing weather, ice, and animal migration patterns. Forced to relocate, Esau and his community will not be able to teach the next generation the means and methods of subsistence practices in their ancestral lands and waters. Without the resources necessary to relocate the village, Shishmaref could be forced to disband and Esau's traditions and culture could be lost in their current form. The language of the village, its unique carving and sewing practices, and the stories and traditions of Shishmaref could be forgotten. 23. The effects that climate change is having on Esau are a source of anxiety, stress and loss to him. Esau worries about the ways that climate change will continue to affect the plants and animals of his homeland in the future and he fears for the future of the cultural knowledge, history, and traditions, and existence of Shishmaref. 24. Plaintiff Linnea L., by and through her guardian Hank Lentfer, is 14 years old and has lived in Gustavus, Alaska all of her life. Linnea's identity and community are Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 10 of 95 3AN-17- Cl built on the rugged beauty and rich ecosystem surrounding her, which is increasingly endangered, by climate change. Linnea's health and that of the biological and human communities in Alaska are increasingly put at risk by Defendants. 25. Linnea relies upon the wild flora and fauna of Southeast Alaska for subsistence. Approximately 60% of Linnea's family's diet comes from hunting, fishing, and their garden. Among the numerous species that make up her family's subsistence diet are deer, moose, coho and sockeye salmon, halibut, black cod, berries, and many others. The warming and acidification of ocean waters harms the ecosystems and aquatic species Linnea relies on. Warming oceans and freshwaters result in changes to salmon migration patterns and timing. Changing precipitation patterns, increased rain, and increased glacial and snowmelt also endanger salmon with increased stream turbidity and runoff. The warming oceans also increases harmful algal blooms, which contaminate shellfish, among many other negative ecosystem impacts. Ocean acidification harms phytoplankton and zooplankton at the bottom of the food chain, all the way up the food chain through crab, shellfish, and salmon, to whales and other marine mammals at the top. Climate change also threatens the game species that Linnea relies on by increasing risk of exposure to parasites and vector borne diseases and through changes in vegetation, affecting the availability of the game's food, resulting in changing habitat range. Absent science -based action to address climate change, Linnea could lose access to, and availability of, the species that sustain her diet. 26. Linnea enjoys observing all of the species that make up the rich and unique ecosystem of Southeast Alaska in their natural habitats. Whales are particularly important to Linnea and she enjoys spending time in the boat observing Humpback Complaint Page 11 of 95 Sinnok et a] v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI whales, which are becoming increasingly difficult to find. Warning waters impact whales' migration patterns, timing, habitat ranges, and food sources. As climate change has progressed, whales have increasingly been found in abnormal locations, or hard to find at all in Linnea's region. Linnea also enjoys birds, like Murres, which are also harmed by climate change. Last year, Alaska experienced the largest die -off of Mures in the state's history, as the warming. of ocean waters from climate change affected the abundance, location, and competition for the Mures' prey. 27. Linnea also enjoys recreating in the outdoors. She loves to visit nearby Glacier Bay National Park at least once per year. She is saddened, and her recreational experience harmed, by the retreat of the glaciers around her, accelerated rapidly by climate change. The glaciated area used to extend all the way into Icy Strait, but glaciers now only occur in the northern reaches of the park and nearly all of the glaciers are retreating. In the last few years, one of the nearby tidewater glaciers, which Linnea enjoyed, which used to calve into the ocean, has retreated so far that it is no longer a tidewater glacier. Linnea enjoys boating close to these tidewater glaciers and walking on the icepack, and hopes to continue to do so throughout her life and with her own family one day. She is saddened that, as she continues to visit Glacier Bay in the future, she will not be able to have the same experiences there as she does today, and that, absent science -based action, the glaciers may disappear entirely. The loss of glacier tourism will greatly harm Linnea, her local community, and its economy. 28. Linea also enjoys skiing in the winter, but with the warming climate, is able to ski less and less. Three of the past four winters, Linea has barely been able to go skiing at all. Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 12 of 95 3AN-17- CI 29. Linnea is emotionally banned by the losses she has already experienced from climate change and has anxiety and fears that climate change is only going to worsen without government action. 30. Plaintiff Tasha Elizarde is an 18-year-old resident of Juneau, where she was born and raised. Tasha is alarmed and saddened as she sees the ecological health and beauty of Alaska diminishing because of climate change. She worries that, absent science -based action, her community, and Alaska generally, will continue to be harmed by climate change and that these changes may be irreversible. Tasha's passion for protecting Alaska's communities and pristine landscape and ecology from climate change inspired her to join Alaska Youth for Environmental Action in 2016 and to work to stop the Chuitna Coal Mine. 31. Tasha is an avid artist. She enjoys writing and photography and draws her inspiration from the rich ecology and natural beauty surrounding her community. Much of that inspiration, and Tasha's enjoyment of nature, comes from her walks and hikes in the natural areas surrounding Juneau and from the snow that once typically blanketed the area during the winter. Tasha has watched as snow has all but disappeared from Juneau's winters - arriving later and melting earlier - and as snow has been increasingly replaced by far more rain than was previously typical for the region. The situation has gotten so bad that nearby Eagle Crest Ski Area was barely open to skiers at all during the winter of 2015/2016 due to lack of snow. Tasha is greatly concerned about the negative impact that unabated climate change is having on the natural areas from which she draws her inspiration. She refuses to merely watch as the beauty of Juneau deteriorates while her government continues to cause and contribute to the climate crisis. Complaint Page 13 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI 32. Tasha particularly enjoys the glaciers surrounding Juneau. For many years, she has enjoyed hiking on the East Glacier Loop overlooking Mendenhall Glacier. Tasha is harmed by watching Mendendhall Glacier retreat farther and farther every single year as climate change continues unabated. Tasha will suffer the permanent loss of the Mendenhall Glacier in her lifetime, forever changing one of her favorite places, if climate change is not abated. 33. Tasha's diet consists in large part of the bounty of the seas surrounding Juneau, which several of her family members, and much of the Juneau community, relies on as commercial fisherpeople. As with the other Youth Plaintiffs, Tasha is harmed by the drastic decreases in the amount of salmon, crab, shrimp, and other seafood species available to Tasha and to Juneau's commercial fishermen. She can hardly find fresh crab at all anymore. The availability of her local food sources will be increasingly harmed by climate change and ocean acidification. 34. Youth Plaintiff Cade Terada, is a 19-year-old resident of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Cade attends college in Vermont but returns to Dutch Harbor during breaks and will be returning to Alaska after college to pursue a career. Cade is deeply connected to the ocean that surrounds his hometown, and he relies upon it for food. Cade has presented at conferences across the nation to advocate for governmental action to address climate change and other environmental issues. He is an Arctic Youth Ambassador, a program partnered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. State Department, and Alaska Geographic. Cade is active within the State of Alaska through Alaska Youth for Environmental Action, and is the arctic representative for One More Generation, an organization dedicated to protecting endangered species. Complaint Page 14 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI 35. Cade relies on the ocean for sustenance. Sixty to seventy percent of his diet in Dutch Harbor comes from the sea and both of Cade's parents work in the fishing industry. Cade eats dungeness, king, and tanner crabs, halibut, cod, salmon, clams, and mussels, and other marine species. Ocean acidification and warming is occurring in the waters around Dutch Harbor, hanning the marine species on which Cade and his community rely. Ocean acidification has already led to crab shortages in Dutch Harbor. The impacts of ocean acidification to organisms at the bottom of the food chain causes rippling domino effects throughout the ecosystem because these organisms feed the salmon, herring, Pollack, and other species that Cade and his family and the Dutch Harbor community rely upon for subsistence and commercial fishing. 36. Cade grew up digging clams and mussels with his mother, but his ability to safely harvest and eat shellfish is threatened by climate change. Warming ocean temperatures creates favorable water condition for dinoflagellate algae, which contaminate shellfish. Consuming shellfish contaminated by dinoflagellate algae can result in paralytic shellfish poisoning ("PSP"), a serious illness that can be fatal to humans. Currently, the Alaska Division of Public Health strongly recommends against eating any non -commercially caught shellfish in Alaska. Because of the increased risk of PSP that has come with warmer waters, Cade and his mother do not dig for clams like they used to. Fears about harvesting contaminated subsistence foods prevent Cade and other members of his community from eating mussels, which used to be a staple of their diet. 37. As climate change has progressed, Dutch Harbor is seeing more rain stone events and high winds are increasing in frequency and severity. The additional rain has Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 15 of 95 3AN-17- CI led to flooding on paths Cade uses to travel in his community and where he enjoys hiking. The increased frequency and severity of storm events makes travel in and out of Dutch Harbor more difficult, often grounding flights. 38. Youth Plaintiff Kaytlyn K., by and through her father and guardian Maurice Kelly is a seventeen -year -old resident of Palmer, Alaska. Kaytlyn is already being harmed by climate change in Alaska in ways similar to her fellow Plaintiffs. Kaytlyn is a member of Alaska Youth for Environmental Action. 39. Kaytlyn and her family subsistence fish in the summer for sea bass, halibut, cod, sockeye and coho salmon. As a result of climate change, warming temperatures and ocean acidification threaten the species Kaytlyn and her family rely on. When she goes fishing, it is more difficult to there are often fewer fish than there used to be, and the fish she catches are smaller. 40. Kaytlyn has asthma, which has been aggravated in recent years by the wildfires that are made more frequent and severe in Alaska. Warmer temperatures and spruce beetle infestations have caused an increase in forest fires in Kaytlyn's region and in other areas of Alaska where she visits. In 2016, when Kaytlyn was fishing near Chitna, smoke from wildfires triggered her asthma, making it difficult for her to breathe. 41. Kaytlyn enjoys hiking and skiing. Hatcher's Pass is a special place for Kaytlyn, as she grew up spending time there with her family. Recently, it has become harder to hike here because the permafrost is melting, causing the ground to become sunken and mushy. Kaytlyn has noticed that warmer temperatures have impacted the vegetation at Hatcher's Pass which seem drier and less verdant than it used to be. The biggest difference she has noticed at Hatcher'Is Pass is a decrease in winter snowfall. As a Complaint Page 16 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI result, it is more difficult to go cross-country and backcountry skiing there than it was when Kaytlyn was younger and Kaytlyn is able to participate in those activities far less often at Hatcher's Pass. 42. . Kaytlyn enjoys skiing at her local ski area, which used to open for the season by Thanksgiving weekend. Now, because of warming temperatures, the ski area often doesn't open until well into December. Because of decreased snow, and increasing rain, fewer of the runs that used to be open frequently are accessible to Kaytlyn. Some of the runs that used to be open every year when she was younger haven't been open for two to three seasons because of lack of snow. The increased rain also reduces the quality of the snow for Kaytlyn to ski on, harming her recreational interests. 43. Kaytlyn experiences fear and anxiety when she considers the Climate Change Impacts she is experiencing already and thinks of what the future brings. She knows that ocean warming and acidification threaten species that are the cornerstone of Alaskan diets, including salmon and fears for the repercussions to Alaskan communities and families, including her own. Kaylyn is scared when she considers that because of climate change there may no longer be snow where she lives in the future. 44. Plaintiff Brian COnwell is an 18-year-old, lifelong resident of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Brian is experiencing many of the same harms from Climate Change as his fellow plaintiffs. He founded the local Alaska Youth for Environmental Action chapter and has lobbied the state legislature in Juneau to take action on climate change. Brian travels throughout the state for school trips, and sees how climate change is affecting all comers of Alaska. He believes that climate change is an opportunity for his generation to step up and become leaders. Complaint Page 17 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 45. Climate change is threatening the cultural and economic cornerstone of Brian's community: ocean fisheries. Brian relies on this fishery for subsistence. He regularly eats crab, salmon, halibut, and cod. His ability to rely on the ocean for sustenance is harmed by climate change. 46. Changing winter precipitation patterns are negatively impacting Brian's interests in recreation and community -service. Brian remembers getting consistent snow storms when he was younger, but now, precipitation that used to fall as snow, falls as rain and the snowy season isn't as long. The snow is slushier than it used to be because the rain, combined with warmer air temperatures, causes existing snow to melt and partially refreeze. Sledding is one of Brian's favorite hobbies. He used to go sledding frequently on the weekends, but with less snow, he is unable to sled nearly as much. For community service, Brian and his basketball team shovel snow from neighbors' driveways, but they are able to help their community members less and less in this way now because there is less snow. 47. Rising ocean temperatures and ocean acidification are putting pressure on the marine ecosystem and making it harder for fish and other marine species to survive. Brian fears that his community may not be able to survive if climate change destroys the marine fisheries on which Dutch Harbor relies. 48. Plaintiff Jode S., by and through his guardian and mother Connie Sparks, is a seventeen -year -old resident of Sterling, Alaska. Jode lives on the edge of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Jode is a member of Alaska Youth for Environmental Action and was involved with Kenai Change, a campaign to address climate change on the Kenai Peninsula. Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 18 of 95 3AN-17- CI 49. Warmer temperatures are harming the ecology of the forests around Jode's home where Jode enjoys hiking and spending time, harming Jode. Spruce beetles are now able to survive through the winter and are increasing on the Kenai Peninsula. The higher summer temperatures allow more Spruce Bark Beetles to hatch and infest trees. This has caused the destruction of more than one million mature spruce trees on the Kenai Peninsula. 50. Climate change has also led to an increase in severity and frequency of wildfires in Jode's area, threatening Jode's family's home. In the past few years, several fires, including the Funny River Fire in 2014, have burned thousands of acres on the Kenai Peninsula. There have even been fire warnings issued in the month of January in Jode's area. This past summer, a wildfire burned in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, which is adjacent to Jode's house. All of the trees along his family's property line were recently cut down to create a fire line to protect their home. 51. Jode is harmed by decreased snowfall due to climate change. Jode and his family used to run dog -teams in the winter, but their season became shorter and shorter each year with later snows, earlier melts, and increasing rain. As a result, Jode's family no longer run -sled dogs. When Jode was younger, there would be snow at Halloween, but now the snow doesn't begin to stick to the ground until late November. This harms Jode's ability to ski with his ski -team. His team used to always practice on the Tsalteshi Trails near Sterling, but for the last two years they have had to drive up to four hours to find snow to practice on. Two of the last three winters, there was not enough natural snow, so he had to ski on artificial snow for the biggest ski competition of the year. Complaint Page 19 of 95 Sinnok et a] v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 52. Jode is also harmed by climate change because it causes him emotional distress, fear, and anxiety. Whenever there is a fire nearby, which is an increasingly frequent occurrence, Jode worries that his home will be destroyed. Jode visited the glaciers in Portage and Seward when he was younger but he worries that it would be too emotionally jarring to see how far they have receded today. When he thinks about climate change, Jode experiences anxiety because he knows that the crisis is getting worse and that his government is not addressing the problem. 53. Plaintiff Margaret "Sebastian" or "Seb" Kurland is eighteen years old and lives in Juneau, Alaska where they have lived since they were three. Seb identifies as transgender, nonbinary and prefers the pronoun "they" and its derivations. Seb is a member of Alaska Youth for Environmental Action, has been a Girl Scout for twelve Years, and has undertaken and completed numerous school projects on ecosystem climate change. Seb eats a vegan diet because sustainability and animal welfare are important to them. Seb is harmed by climate change in many of the same ways as their fellow Youth Plaintiffs. 54. Seb loves to hike the West Glacier Trail, which is close to their home, to . Mendenhall Glacier, but climate change is diminishing Seb's enjoyment of both the trail and the glacier. Mendenhall Glacier has receded drastically in Seb's lifetime because of climate change. Warming temperatures and changing precipitation patterns from climate change have led to dramatically increased fall and winter rainfall that has eroded the West Glacier Trail. Warming temperatures melting Mendenhall Glacier have led to increasingly frequent jokulhlaups, glacial outburst floods, that drastically increase water Complaint Page 20 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl levels in Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River, causing flooding and erosion that is harming the forests on the lake's edge. 55. Seb enjoys skiing but their ability to go skiing has been banned because of the terribly reduced snowfall in Seb's region over the last several winters. Climate change has resulted in reduced snowfall and increased rain in their region so that proper skiing conditions are becoming increasingly rare. Juneau's winters are becoming more and more difficult to recognize because of lack of snow. Climate change has made avalanches and mudslides more common and probable, resulting in danger to skiers and hikers, including Seb. 56. Seb experiences sadness and anxiety when they consider the harms that climate change is doing to the ecosystems, wildlife, and places about which Seb cares deeply. In the future, Seb would like to show their own family all of the amazing places in Alaska that Seb cherishes and grew up in, but is deeply worried that they won't be able to share those things because they will have been destroyed or altered by climate change. Seb is shocked and distressed that their government is more focused on the immediate revenue that fossil fuel extraction produces than on the long-term future of the state and its population. 57. Plaintiff Lexine D., by and through her guardian and mother, Bernadette Demientieff, is nine years old. Lexine is Gwich'in, from Fort Yukon, and lives in Fairbanks. Lexine is experiencing many of the same harms from Climate Change Impacts as her fellow plaintiffs, including harms to her native culture and traditions. 58. Plaintiff Elizabeth "Liszka" B., by and through her guardian and mother Ilona Bessenyey, is a 17-year-old resident of Anchorage, Alaska. Liszka enjoys visiting Complaint Page 21 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl Alaska's wilderness and pristine natural areas, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (the "Refuge") and the Chugach National Forest, and is passionate about their protection. Liszka is harmed by climate change because, absent meaningful action, the wild places she loves will be irreversibly damaged. 59. Liszka first visited the Refuge for a camping trip while she was in fifth grade and the experience ignited her passion for protecting Alaska's wild places. Liszka wrote a letter, and gathered supporting signatures, asking the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to protect the Refuge. Liszka has twice attended the Alaska Wilderness League's Wilderness Week in Washington D.C. to advocate for formal protection of the Refuge and in 2016 she shared her Refuge experiences with 700 Alaskans during the "Arctic Entries" storytelling event and encouraged others to become involved in protecting Alaska's wild places. Liszka plans to return to the Refuge but is saddened that her future visits will be drastically different from the trip that first inspired her, as the Refuge and the species that reside there are increasingly banned by climate change. She greatly hopes to see a polar bear in its offshore, natural environment in her lifetime but worries that the increasing loss of polar bear habitat due to climate change will prevent her from doing so. 60. Liszka also cares deeply about Chugach State Park, near Anchorage, where she recreates often, cross-country and alpine skiing, hiking, rafting, paddle - boarding, running, and biking. Liszka is harmed by the changes in the Park ecosystem she has observed as climate change has progressed. Glaciers in Chugach State Park that Liszka frequents are rapidly receding due to climate change, including Eklutna Glacier, Portage Glacier, Knik Glacier, and Spencer Glacier. Liszka often goes rafting on Portage Lake, but each time she sees that Portage Glacier has receded more. Each time there are Complaint Page 22 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl more icebergs in the water that have calved from the glacier. This makes traversing the lake more challenging. 61. Liszka has also noticed a change in vegetation in Chugach State Park, including an increase of alders at higher elevations and in places that they were not found before. She has experienced an increase in wildfires in her area as climate change progresses and the forests where she recreates are threatened with increased outbreak of Pests like spruce bark beetle. 62. Cross-country and alpine skiing are important to Liszka's health and well- being, but the warmer temperatures, lack of snow, and increased rain resulting from climate change in recent years has reduced her ability to participate in these healthy activities. Local ski resorts are opening later and closing earlier in the year due to climate change. When she was younger, the first lasting snowfall would come before Halloween. In recent years, while the cross-country training season still begins in early November, due to late and minimal snowfalls, Liszka has not been able to train on snow until early December. Liszka and her teammates have to run on asphalt to train or take a bus to a location that makes man-made snow. Increasingly early snowmelt also shortens Liszka's cross-country and alpine skiing seasons. 63. Late and reduced snowfall leads to icier conditions in Anchorage. Ice, from warmer temperatures and freezing rain, makes the roadways hazardous and results in lost school days for Liszka and other students in her area. 64. Plaintiff Vanessa D., by and through her guardian and mother Julee Duhrsen, is seventeen years old and lives in Anchorage, Alaska. Vanessa is of Chippewa - Complaint Page 23 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl Cree descent and enrolled member of the Rocky Boy Tribe of Montana. She is also active as a member of the Citizens Climate Lobby and Alaska Youth for Environmental Action. 65. As an avid skier, Vanessa's recreational interests are being harmed by climate change. She lives a healthy and active life and loves to downhill, backcountry, and cross-country ski in the wintertime, but because of chmate.change, reduced snowfall and increased rain prevent her from skiing as much as she was previously able to. Additionally, the effects of climate change decrease the quality of snow that she is able to find, and increased temperature variations increase the risk of avalanches, making these activities less safe. Historically, Vanessa and her family used to ski at Alyeska Resort at Thanksgiving, but now there is frequently not enough snow for the resort to be open before December. Vanessa loves to go Nordic skiing at Kincaid Park but reduced snowfall has prevented her from accessing much of the park that is accessible on skis with normal snowfall. She used to be able to ski throughout the over 100 kilometers of trails in Anchorage, but two seasons ago, because of reduced snow, she had to use a manmade three -kilometer loop instead. Because of reduced snow, rocks and sticks poke through the thin snowpack and damage Vanessa's equipment when she skis. Fluctuations in winter temperatures, including warm spells, lead to more dangerous avalanche conditions, endangering Vanessa. Avalanches are more common when warmer temperatures thaw and refreeze layers in the snow, and this makes backcountry skiing more dangerous. As a result, Vanessa does less backcountry skiing than she used to. 66. Vanessa is harmed by the increasingly severe and frequent wildfires resulting from climate change. In 2015, a wildfire near Anchorage destroyed Vanessa's favorite place to hike, just ten miles outside of the city. Complaint Page 24 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 67. As a member of the Rocky Boy Tribe, Vanessa has seen the negative impact that loss of homelands has on a culture. The traditional lands of the Rocky Boy Tribe no longer support the traditional way of life of her ancestors due to a loss of wildlife and land. Disconnected from her ancestral lands in Montana, Vanessa sees the culture of Alaska as her own. She fears that, because of climate change, the unique culture of Alaska of which she is a part will disappear in the same way that much of her Native American culture has. Vanessa is distressed that, because climate change is proceeding unabated, if she has a family in the future, she won't be able to share the same Alaskan places and experiences with them. 68. Youth Plaintiff Ananda Rose Ahtahkee L., is seven years old and lives in Anchorage, Alaska. Ananda is represented in this action by her guardian and father, Glen "Dune" Lankard. Ananda is an Alaskan Native and a member of the Eyak Athabaskan Tribe. Ananda is experiencing harms from Climate Change Impacts similar to many of her fellow Youth Plaintiffs, including harms to her native traditions and culture. 69. Ananda and her family and others in the Eyak community have been personally affected by climate change due to erosion from ice melt and flooding from increased temperatures, as well as the forests dying. In the past decade, there have been numerous floods in Alaska and Cordova, Ananda's traditional homelands. These floods, melting glaciers, dying forests and increased temperatures threaten Ananda's village, wild Copper River salmon and other food sources, native traditions, culture, and livelihood. Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 25 of 95 3AN-17- Cl 70. Ananda enjoys dog -sledding as recreation and as part of her cultural heritage and traditions. However, reduced snowfall and snow quality resulting from climate change is harming her ability to participate in dog -sledding. 71. Ananda has seen glaciers receding, decline of wild salmon stocks in the Copper River and Prince William Sound, the loss of salmon habitat and the decline of animals. Alaska's ecosystems, which are being drastically altered and threatened by climate change, are very important to Ananda because they essential to her family's history, traditions and culture. 72. Youth Plaintiff Griffin Plush is 20 years old and attends college in Juneau. During breaks, Griffin returns to his hometown, Seward, and works during the summers as an interpretive ranger at nearby Kenai Fjords National Park. Griffin has been an Arctic Youth Ambassador, is a leader in Alaska Youth for Environmental Action, was on the board of the Alaska Center for the Environment, and is interning in the Alaska State Legislature. Griffin sees the impacts of climate change on his community, and others like his throughout the State. Griffin is shocked and distressed at the indifference shown by Defendants to a normal Alaskan kid like himself as he and others try to fight climate change and cope with the impacts that his generation will have to face. 73. The glaciers near Seward are immensely important to Griffin and to the surrounding communities. These glaciers flow from the largest icefield entirely within US borders, the Harding Icefield, and, because ofClimate change, the vast majority of them are retreating, some at 40-60 feet per year, harming Griffin's enjoyment of the glaciers and ecosystem. As a ranger, Griffin leads groups of visitors along the path of receding glaciers, and educates them about the rapid glacier melt affecting over 90% of Complaint Page 26 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl the glaciers in Alaska. Bear Glacier has retreated more than 2 miles in the last fifteen years. Portage Glacier has retreated so far that it is no longer visible from the visitor center built for its viewing. The nearby tidewater glaciers are retreating as well, affecting bird and seal habitat. 74. When Griffin was as young as six, he and his father would hike to the toe of Exit Glacier. It was easy to access the glacier and touch the ice. Since then, the glacier has retreated more than 1,000 feet, and the ice is more difficult to access. As a ranger, Griffin leads tours to Exit Glacier on a 2.5-mile path that begins where the glacier's terminus reached in 1917. Griffin values his memories of spending time at Exit Glacier with his father, who passed away when he was ten. As climate change progresses and Griffin witnesses Exit Glacier retreat, Griffin is harmed because he feels as if that valued memory is disappearing right in front him. 75. Ocean acidification is impacting the marine ecosystems of Resurrection Bay near Seward and throughout the Gulf of Alaska, harming Griffin. Griffin grew up digging razor clams and other shellfish with his family. However, increased ocean acidification is resulting in sharp reductions in razor clam populations. Griffin has been unable to harvest razor clams from his family's favorite spot for the past three years. Local shellfish hatcheries now have to use additives to reduce the acidity of their nursery waters. Griffin fishes for salmon and halibut in the Resurrection River and Resurrection Bay but Alaska's salmon fishery is also being adversely impacted by increasing land and water temperatures and ocean acidification. Decreased snow cover on streams near Seward results in a loss of insulation for salmon eggs with resulting population effects. Salmon returns have been unpredictable over the past several years and ocean Complaint Page 27 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl acidification's effects on zooplankton is further adversely impacting Alaskan salmon Populations. This unpredictability makes it difficult for Griffin and his friends and community to catch salmon for subsistence and commercial uses. 76. In the summertime, Griffin grows vegetables in his garden, including lettuce, peas, and potatoes. Warmer winter temperatures, followed by sporadic freezing temperatures are harming griffin by making it more difficult to grow produce. Plants may begin to grow earlier in the season, but are then killed by later cold snaps. 77. Griffin suffers from asthma and seasonal allergies. His allergies worsen during warm, dry summers, which are increasing in frequency due to climate change. When Griffin's allergies flare up, it triggers his asthma, and it is difficult for him to breathe. Griffin's asthma is also exacerbated by smoke that blows in to Seward from wildfires on the other side of the Kenai Peninsula, which are increasingly frequent and severe as climate change results in hotter and drier summers and brings destruction to millions of trees through increased spruce beetle populations. 78. Changing precipitation patterns caused by climate change threaten Griffin's safety. Rainfall is increasing in the fall and winter precipitation that used to fall as snow is falling as rain, causing icy and slushy roads and making driving around town, and to Anchorage, dangerous. The increased rain is also creating more frequent and severe flood events in Seward. The Resurrection River, Japanese Creek, and Stoney Creek flood more frequently as a result of increased rain and glacial melt. Residents of Seward are incrpasingly experiencing flooding in their homes. Road flooding cuts off access to parts of town and to the Seward highway leading out of town. Existing infrastructure was not built to withstand the current increased fall precipitation and Complaint Page 28 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI flooding, and both the Japanese Creek and Lowell Creek levies are being threatened by worsened flooding and have been deemed to be at risk of damage with further flooding. If Lowell Creek levy were to be breached in a flood, downtown Seward and the only hospital in Seward would be flooded, as would the airstrip used for airlifting patients to Anchorage, that are required to provide medical care. 79. Warmer winters and hotter, drier summers in Seward and Southeast Alaska are enabling insects, like flies and mosquitos, to thrive and become more numerous. One year the flies were so bad at Exit Glacier that it was difficult for Griffin to be outside with being harassed by them. Ticks are beginning to survive through the winters in Southeast Alaska, increasing in population, and moving farther north. These developments increasingly make hiking and enjoying the forests around Seward less enjoyable and will harm local wildlife that is important to Griffin, like moose. 80. Griffin experiences stress and anxiety because of climate change. He already experiences Climate Change Impacts and worries that further changes may be even more extreme. The negative impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on salmon and other marine species are particularly consequential for Griffin's home community of Seward. A large part of the community has economic ties to the ocean. Griffin worries that ocean warming and acidification will devastate the local economy and community. 81. Youth Plaintiffs Cecily S. (age 7) and Lila S. (age 5) are siblings who live in Homer, Alaska. They are represented in this action by their guardians and parents Robert Shavelson and Miranda Weiss. Cecily and Lila are harmed by climate change and experiencing Climate Change Irnpacts in ways similar to their fellow Youth Plaintiffs. Complaint Page 29 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI The Earth is important to Cecily and Lila and they want to help protect it. In 2012, Cecily delivered a letter to Governor Walker about climate change. 82. Cecily and Lila enjoy fishing for salmon and halibut and eating all of the bounty of their local seas, including salmon, pacific cod, black cod, crab and shrimp. Cecily's favorite thing to do is to go fishing and Lila particularly likes to fish for salmon and to eat it smoked. They love to go fishing at their friend's fish camp on Chisik Island. They also like to eat crab their family catches in Kachemak Bay. Like their fellow Youth Plaintiffs, the marine species that Cecily and Lila and their family rely on are threatened by warming ocean and stream temperatures and ocean acidification. For example, the Pacific cod population in the Gulf of Alaska has recently crashed. Their family used to dig for clams but they can't find hardshell or razor clams like they used to in Kachemak Bay and Lower Cook Inlet. Warming streams and oceans and ocean acidification threaten the salmon that Cecily and Lila depend.on and love to eat. 83. Cecily and Lila love to play in the snow and to go sledding and skiing, but their ability to enjoy these winter activities is being harmed by climate change. There has been less snow during recent winters, so Cecily and Lila have often been unable to go sledding or skiing. Warmer winter temperatures also prevent them from going ice skating on the local lakes. In 2015, they were unable to go ice skating at all because there was not enough ice on the lakes. Cecily and Lila enjoy stomping on ice and visiting glaciers near their home. They enjoy hikes to Grewingk Glacier Lake to see the glacier and play nearby. Climate change is harming their ability to engage in these activities. They love the snow and ice that winter bring. Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 30 of 95 3AN-17- Cl 84. With warning temperatures reducing their abilities to participate in their favorite winter time activities, Lila and Cecily are sad that snow will be more and more rare in their area, absent science -based action on climate change. Lila wants to put a snowman in the freezer so she can have it for later. 85. Youth Plaintiff Summer S., by and through her guardian and mother Melanie Sagoonick, is a 16-year-old, Inupiaq resident of Unalakleet. The Inupiaq culture Of Summer's village is tied intimately to the land and local ecology, both of which are increasingly endangered by climate change. Summer's ancestors have inhabited the area for over 2,200 years. Climate change is already harming, and will dangerously threaten, Summer's village, her subsistence lifestyle, and her cultural traditions -and heritage. 86. Summer is emotionally and psychologically harmed by losing the native plants and landmarks of her people and her heritage. Learning the subsistence lifestyle and other aspects of Unalakleet's native culture is important for Summer and important for her to pass the traditions and culture along to future generations. As climate change increasingly impacts her village and the environment on which it depends, Summer worries about the harms to her cultural heritage and the village's ability to transmit that culture to her generation and later generations. 87. Unalakleet sits between the ocean and an arm of the Unalakleet River, leaving it vulnerable to flooding events that can trap the village's residents. Sea ice in the region is forming later and thinner and breaking up earlier and faster. Permafrost is thawing, leaving Unalakleet vulnerable to a combination of higher seas and increasing storm events that flood the village and wash away the coast more and more frequently, especially during the fall months. Increased river flooding also occurs because of the Complaint Page 31 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl increased rain that Unalakleet receives as a result of climate change. Unalakleet placed a wall of boulders along its coastline and mouth of the river to buffer against erosion, storm surges, and higher ocean levels, but each flooding event pushes the boulders out into the ocean or the river mouth and more land is washed away. Many Unalakleet residents have to be evacuated from their homes to higher elevation during these climate -induced stones and flood events. Summer's house is less than one mile from the ocean, and is threatened by these climate -change induced threats. Permafrost around Summer's house has already thawed leaving one part of her house higher than the rest. Her grandparents' home, which Summer visits regularly, in Shaktoolik is just 200 feet from the ocean, situated on and surrounded by low elevation. Situated miles away from higher ground, Shaktoolik's only evacuation route is by boat. 88. Summer relies upon the lands and waters of Alaska for subsistence. She Picks blueberries, salmonberries, cranberries, and blackberries. She fishes salmon and trout, hunts for ugruk (bearded seal), beaver, moose, and geese, and collects seagull and duck eggs. Summer's ability to engage in these seasonal subsistence activities is already harmed by climate change. She loves to fish in the North River near Unalakleet, but hotter and drier summer seasons have made the river shallower and some of its streams are now often even dry. Snow comes later and later to Unalakleet each year, melts earlier, and increasingly falls as rain instead of snow. Lack of snow makes travel and hunting during the winter difficult for Summer and her family. Increased rain makes the roads icy and dangerous. Overland travel is also more difficult without adequate snow cover where rain accumulates in large pools on top of the ice as "overflow." Due to low snow pack, for the past few years, Summer has had to travel by different and more difficult trails to Complaint Page 32 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI her family's nearby cabin on the North River for subsistence activities. Loss of sea ice and thinner sea ice makes hunting for seals and jigging for crab increasingly difficult and dangerous as well. One of Summer's teachers fell through the ice one year, but thankfully was saved. Summer's family used to use an ice cellar to preserve berries and fish in the summer months, but they cannot use it now because the land is not frozen anymore and it is not cold enough to preserve the food. Summer's traditional subsistence practices are already negatively affected by climate change, and these impacts will only worsen without meaningful action to address GHG emissions and climate change. 89. Summer is also injured by the increase in wild forest and tundra fires caused by climate change. In June 2017, smoke from fires near North River and Stebbins blew across the mountains, filling the air in Unalakleet. Ten miles outside of Unalakleet at her vacation bible camp, Summer has seen first-hand the increasing numbers of spruce beetles that are killing the forests where her community hunts and traps, leaving the forests at further risk of wildfire. 90. Summer enjoys skiing but now there is frequently not enough snow for her ski practice and her team has to find alternative ways to practice, including running indoors or traveling away from the village to find snow. 91. All of Summer's aforementioned harms to her food sources, her culture and traditions, her family, and her home harm Summer's emotional and mental wellbeing. Summer worries about and fears these impacts, the impact of increasing fires on wildlife and habitat in the areas surrounding Unalakleet, the loss of the things that are vital to her life, and the increasing temperatures that threaten the very landscape and ice on which she and her people have survived for millenia. Complaint Page 33 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 92. In 2011, six Alaska youth filed suit to compel science -based GHG emissions reductions in Alaska. Upon review of that case in 2014, the Alaska Supreme Court recognized that the "science of anthropogenic climate change is compelling." Kanuk ex rel Kanuk v. State, Department of Natural Resources, 335 P.3d 1088, 1097 (Alaska 2014). The Court also noted that there had been no progress on the issue of climate change at the state level since 2009. Id. at 1098. Ultimately, the Court determined that Alaska's policy determinations as to whether and how to address the climate crisis were not those of the judiciary, but those of the "legislature — or an executive agency entrusted with rule -making authority" to make "in the first instance." Id. 93. On August 28, 2017, Youth Plaintiffs submitted a petition for rulemaking to Defendants DEC and Commissioner Hartig requesting reductions of Alaska's GHGs in order to preserve their fundamental and inalienable constitutional rights and rectify Defendants' infringements thereof (hereinafter "Petition for Rulemaking'). A true and correct copy of Youth Plaintiffs' Petition for Rulemaking is attached hereto as Exhibit A and incorporated herein by reference. 94. On September 27, 2017, consistent with, providing further evidence for, and in furtherance of Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy (which involves systemic authorization, permitting, encouragement, and facilitation of activities resulting in dangerous levels of GHG emissions, without regard to Climate Change Impacts or any climate change mitigation standards, and perpetual denial of and delay in development of climate change mitigation standards), DEC and Commissioner Hartig denied Youth Plaintiffs' Petition for Rulemaking. Complaint Page 34 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 95. Regarding cases involving fundamental constitutional rights, the U.S. Supreme Court recently said, "[t]here may be an initial inclination in these cases to proceed with caution —to await further legislation, litigation, and debate.... Of course, the Constitution contemplates that democracy is the appropriate process for change, so long as that process does not abridge fundamental rights.... The Nation's courts are open to injured individuals who come to them to vindicate their own direct, personal stake in our basic charter." Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015). The Youth Plaintiffs' stories show the urgency of the issue they present to the Court. DEFENDANTS 96. Defendant State of Alaska is the sovereign trustee over Public Trust Resources within its domain, including air, water, the sea, the shores of the sea, and fish and wildlife. It maintains control over these and other Public Trust Resources and must Protect them from substantial impairment and alienation, for the benefit of present and future. Alaskans. Alaska must exercise a duty of care over Public Trust Resources and manage them with of loyalty and impartiality to the citizen beneficiaries of Alaska's Public trust, including these Youth Plaintiffs and future generations. 97. In interpreting and effectuating its trustee duties, the State has declared that it is its policy "to conserve, improve, and protect its natural resources and environment and control water, land, and air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state and their overall well-being.... and to develop and manage the basic resources of water, land, and air to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations." AS Complaint Page 35 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI 46.03.010. Alaska has delegated lead responsibility for the State's duties as trustee of Public Trust Resources to DEC. 18. Notwithstanding its trustee obligation, Defendant State of Alaska has explicitly authorized and encouraged the development, transport, and use of fossil fuels to generate energy in Alaska and.for export. 99. Defendant William Walker is the Governor of Alaska and is sued in his Official capacity. The Alaska Constitution vests the Governor with the responsibility "for the faithful execution of the laws." Alaska Const. art. III, sec. 16. The Governor must actively or passively approve bills passed by the legislature before they become law and has the power to veto legislation. Alaska Const. art. II, §§ 15, 17. The Governor is constitutionally obligated to periodically address the legislature as to the affairs of the state and recommend necessary actions. Alaska Const. art. III, § 18. 100. "The executive power of the State is vested in the Governor." Alaska Const. art. III, § 1. The Governor has supervisory authority over each principal department of the executive branch, including DEC, DNR, and the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, Alaska Const. art. I11, § 24, and appoints the head of each principal department of the executive branch, Alaska Const. art. III, § 25. The Governor has supervisory authority over each Agency Defendant. 101. The Governor holds cabinet meetings, communicates with other state officers, oversees budget expenditures, and has authority to issue executive orders. 102. The Governor is responsible for approving annual plans submitted by DEC for management and protection of the quality of the environment and natural resources of the state. AS 46.03.040 Complaint Page 36 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 103. Governor Walker, adding to the dangerous acts of his predecessors, has used his expansive authority, and directed DEC, DNR, and other Agency Defendants, to encourage, allow, and authorize activities resulting in dangerous levels of CO2 and GHGs, thus causing, contributing and exacerbating the climate crisis. He has taken these actions while simultaneously telling the public that Alaska is "ground zero for climate impacts" and that the crisis is "an absolute urgency for Alaska." Similarly, Governor Walker has not used his authority, nor directed DEC, DNR, and other Agency Defendants to implement their authority, to prevent and reduce Alaska's emissions of dangerous levels of GHGs and protect its biologic carbon sinks. 104. Defendant Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation ("DEC") is a department of the State of Alaska created by AS 44.17.005(14). The legislature has granted DEC broad responsibility, powers, and duties to "conserve, improve, and protect [Alaska's] natural resources and environment and control water, land, and air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic and social well-being[]" and to "manage the basic resources of water, land, and air to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations." AS 46.03.010; 46.03.020(l0)(G); 44.46.020(a)(4). DEC has both the power to adopt regulations to accomplish these purposes and the duty to take action necessary to fulfill them. AS 46.03.020(10)(G); 44.46.020(a)(4). DEC has authority to review the programs and activities of other state departments and agencies for consistency with these purposes. AS 46.03.020(2). In furtherance of these purposes, DEC must annually review and revise a statewide Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 37 of 95 3AN-17- CI environmental plan for the management and protection of the quality of the environment. AS 46.03,040. 105. DEC has primary responsibility for "coordination and development of policies, programs, and planning related to the environment of the state and of the various regions of the state." AS 44.46.020(a)(1). 106. DEC has primary responsibility for "the adoption and enforcement of regulations for the prevention and abatement of all water, land, subsurface land, and air pollution, and other sources or potential sources of pollution of the environment..... AS 44.46.020(a) (2). With respect to air pollutants, DEC is authorized to establish "ambient air quality standards" and "emissions standards," AS 46.14.010, and standards "for the control of the emissions for motor vehicles," AS 46.14.510 and has the duty to "adopt regulations to address substantive and procedural elements of the emission control permit program...." AS 46.14.146. DEC issues air quality permits to facilities that emit GHG emissions, including but not limited to projects that burn and promote the use of fossil fuels. 107. DEC issues permits governing the: discharge of solid and liquid waste materials for activities that emit GHG emissions, including but not limited to solid waste management and liquid waste management. The activities for which DEC issues permits result in dangerous levels of GHG emissions. 108. Defendant Lawrence Hartig is commissioner of DEC and is sued in his official capacity. Through his office, Commissioner Hartig has authorized, permitted, and encouraged fossil fuel exploitation, development, utilization, combustion, and exports, which activities generate dangerous levels of GHG emissions. Consistent with these Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 38 of 95 3AN-17- Cl efforts that exacerbate the climate crisis, Commissioner Hartig has refused to utilize his office and his authority to initiate any effort to phase out GHG emissions consistent with levels that could avert dangerous disruption of the climate system. 109. DEC and Commissioner Hartig denied Youth Plaintiffs, Petition for Rulemaking on September 27, 2017. 110. Defendant Alaska Department of Natural Resources ("DNR") is a department of the State of Alaska created by AS 44.17.005(10). DNR manages all state- owned land, water, and natural resources, except for fish and game, including 65 million acres of tidelands, shorelands, and submerged lands, and 34,000 miles of coastline, on behalf of the people of Alaska. 111. DNR regulates, permits, and authorizes activities with which result in significant emissions of GHGs in Alaska. DNR has authority to regulate the disposition of deposits of fossil fuels in Alaska. DNR issues permits for surface coal mining and reclamation in Alaska, issues licenses for exploration and leases for production and extraction of oil and gas in Alaska, and permits for drilling in Alaska. DNR also issues permits and leases for livestock grazing in Alaska. The activities for which DNR issues permits, licenses, and leases result in dangerous levels of GHG emissions. 112.. ADNR has authorized, permitted, and encouraged fossil fuel exploitation, development, utilization, combustion, and exports, and livestock grazing, which activities generate dangerous levels of GHG emissions. Consistent with these efforts that exacerbate the climate crisis, ADEC has not utilizes its authority to initiate any effort to phase out GHG emissions consistent with levels that could avert dangerous disruption of the climate system. Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 39 of 95 3AN-17- Cl 113. Defendant Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission ("AOGCC") is an independent agency of the State of Alaska created by AS 31,05.005. AOGCC has authority to oversee and regulate oil and gas drilling, development, and production in Alaska for conservation and for public health, safety, and environmental protection purposes and issues permits for oil and gas drilling in Alaska. AOGCC's authority extends to all land in the state lawfully subject to, its police powers, including land of the United States and land subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, as well as offshore areas. Oil and gas drilling in Alaska permitted by AOGCC results in dangerous levels of GHG emissions. 114. Defendant Alaska Energy Authority ("AEA") is a public corporation of the State created by AS 44.83.0.20 and organized within the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development ("DCCED" ). AEA is the state's energy office and lead agency for statewide energy policy and program development. AEA's purposes are to finance and operate power projects and facilities in Alaska that recover and use waste energy. AEA is authorized to improve, equip, operate, and maintain power projects and bulk fuel, waste energy, energy conservation, energy efficiency, and alternative energy facilities and equipment and to carry out the other powers listed in AS 44.83.080. 115. Defendant Regulatory Commission of Alaska ("RCOA") is an independent agency of the State created by AS 42.04.010 and is organized within DCCED. RCOA regulates public utility and pipeline services to ensure that they provide safe and adequate services and facilities. RCOA issues certificates of public convenience to utilities that provide natural gas and electric services derived from fossil fuel combustion and regulates the rates, services, and practices of the utilities to which it Complaint Page 40 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI issues certificates of public convenience. RCOA regulates oil and gas pipelines and Pipeline carriers in the state and issues permits for the construction, modification, Operation, and abandonment of oil and gas pipeline facilities in the state. RCOA's certification and permitting activities cause and contribute to dangerous levels of GHG emissions. LEGALBACKGROUND 116. Article I, Section 7 of the Alaska Constitution recognizes and preserves the fundamental right of citizens to be free from government actions that harm life, liberty, and property without due process of law. 117. The Alaska Constitution expressly recognizes that "[a]ll political power is inherent in the people. All government originates with the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the people as a whole." Alaska Constitution Art. I, Section 2. The Constitution of Alaska is dedicated to the principle of Protection of all persons' (including future generations) natural and inherent rights and explicitly states that the "enumeration of rights in this constitution shall not impair or deny others retained by the people." Alaska Constitution Art. 1, §§ 1, 21. In recognizing unenumerated constitutional rights, the Alaska Supreme Court has recognized the "broad scope of the Alaska Constitution's liberty and privacy guarantees." Myers v. Alaska, 138 P.3d 238, 248 (Alaska 2008). 118. Alaska's constitutional guarantee to individual liberty is broader and more Protective than that guaranteed by the federal constitution. Complaint Page 41 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 119. One of the fundamental and inalienable rights retained by the people is the right to a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberty. The right to a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberty is a liberty interest both necessary for and foundational to the explicitly enumerated rights reserved by the Alaska Constitution, including the rights to life, liberty, and property, and is constitutionally reserved through both Sections 7 and 21 of Article I of the Alaska Constitution. 120. Other unenumerated rights protected by the Alaska Consitution include the rights to personal security, bodily integrity, and autonomy. The liberty interests protected by the Alaska Consitution also extend to certain personal choices central to individual dignity and autonomy, including intimate choices that define personal identity and belief. The constitutionally protected liberty interests in dignity and autonomy encompass the capacity to provide for one's basic human needs, safely raise families, learn and practice one's religious and spiritual beliefs, learn, practice, and transmit one's native cultural traditions and practices, maintain one's bodily integrity, and lead a life with sufficient access to clean air, water, shelter, and food. 121. The equal protection clause of Article I, Section 1 of the Alaska Constitution prohibits Defendants from discriminating against individuals and groups with respect to fundamental rights and as members of a protected class. This legal principle prohibits Defendants from adopting, implementing, and pursuing policies, practices, customs, and actions that destabilize the climate system whose protection is fundamental to children's and Youth Plaintiffs' fundamental rights to life, liberty, property, and to other unenumerated rights, including personal security, bodily integrity, autonomy, and to a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberty. Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 42 of 95 3AN-17- CI 122_ Article VIII of the Alaska Constitution ensures the protection, balanced development, and conservation of Alaska's natural resources and constitutionalizes the Public Trust Doctrine in Alaska. Constitutionally protected Public Trust Resources under the Public Trust Doctrine include at least waters (surface, subsurface, and atmospheric), fish, and wildlife. 123. The Public Trust Doctrine provides that the State holds Public Trust Resources, including, but not limited to, waters (surface, subsurface, and atmospheric), fish, wildlife, air (atmosphere), the climate system, the sea and the shores of the sea, submerged and submersible lands, beaches, forests, grasslands, grasslands, and tundra in trust for public use. The overarching Public Trust Resource is our climate system, which encompasses the atmosphere, waters, oceans, and biosphere. The state owes a fiduciary duty to manage Public Trust Resources for the common good of the beneficiaries - Present and future generations of Alaskans. The Public Trust Doctrine is applicable to the State's management, use, and disposal of Public Trust Resources, which are held in trust for present and future generations of citizens of the State of Alaska. 124. Article VIR, § 2 of the Alaska Constitution states: "The legislature shall Provide for the utilization, development, and conservation of all natural resources belonging to the State, including land and waters, for the maximum benefit of its people." 125. Article VIII, § 3 of the Alaska Constitution states: "Wherever occurring in their natural state, fish, wildlife, and waters are reserved to the people for common use." 126. Article VIII, § 4 of the Alaska Constitution states that "fish, forests, wildlife, grasslands and all other replenishable resources belonging to the State shall be Complaint Page 43 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI utilized, developed and maintained on a sustained yield principle, subject to preferences among beneficial uses." 127. Article VIII, § 6 of the Alaska Constitution states that "lands and interests therein, including submerged and tidal lands, possessed or acquired by the State, and not used or intended exclusively for governmental purposes, constitute the public domain." 128. The Alaska Legislature has declared the climate system a Public Trust Resource in AS 46.03.010, which states: "It is the policy of the state to ...manage the basic resources of water, land, and air to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations." 129. Youth Plaintiffs are beneficiaries of rights under the Public Trust Doctrine, rights that are secured by Article I, Section 21 and Article VIII of the Alaska Constitution. The Public Trust Doctrine is an inherent attribute of sovereignty preserved, rather than created by, the Alaska Constitution and cannot be abdicated. 130.. Under the Public Trust Doctrine, "`[t]he control of the State for purposes of the trust can never be lost, except as to such parcels as are used in promoting the interests of the public therein, or can be disposed of without any substantial impairment of the public interest in the lands and water remaining."' CWC Fisheries, Inc. v. Bunker, 755 P.2d 1115, 1118 (Alaska 1988) (quoting Illinois Cent. R.R. v. Illinois, 146 U.S. 387, 453 (1892)). 131. Public Trust rights secured by the Public Trust Doctrine include the rights of present and future generations to access, use and enjoy Public Trust Resources. Defendants, as trustees, have concomitant duties corresponding with Youth Plaintiffs' rights as beneficiaries under the Public Trust Doctrine. As trustees Defendants have a Complaint Page 44 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl duty of care to exercise appropriate skill, prudence, and caution in managing the Public Trust Resources. Defendants have a duty to maintain, control, preserve, and prevent substantial impairment to and waste of Public Trust Resources. Defendants, as trustees, have a duty of loyalty and impartiality to manage Public Trust Resources for the benefit of all beneficiaries, both present and future generations, and not to favor one class of beneficiaries at the expense of and detriment to another class of beneficiaries. FACTUALBACKGROUND Anthropogenic Climate Change Will Be Catastrophic Unless Atmospheric COZ Concentrations Decline to 350 ppm or Less by 2100 132. There is an overwhelming scientific consensus that human -caused climate change is occurring. The present rate of global heating and ocean acidification is a result of anthropogenic GHG emissions, primarily COZ emissions, from the combustion of fossil fuels. This release of GHG emissions into the atmosphere, combined with deforestation and soil degradation, has disrupted Earth's energy balance, thereby changing Earth's climate, resulting in Climate Change Impacts. 133. In April 2017, the monthly average atmospheric COZ concentration exceeded 410 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in recorded history. The global annual average atmospheric COZ concentration today is 404 ppm compared to the pre- industrial concentration of 280 ppm, For hundreds of thousands of years, COZ levels naturally fluctuated between 180 and 280 ppm, The atmospheric COZ concentration has been increasing, and continues to increase, as a direct result of human combustion of fossil fuels. Current atmospheric Co concentrations are higher than levels in millions of years. Complaint Page 45 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 134. Atmospheric COZ is the primary forcer of climate change. Atmospheric COZ levels, global temperature and sea levels are all closely correlated as depicted in the graph below. E U U of yews before present) 135. For the first time in the measurable paleo-record, COZ levels have risen by more than 125 ppm and within only 150 years. This type of differential in COZ levels drove a series of sea level rise pulses over thousands of years that totaled 120 meters of sea level rise in response to warming and ice melt. The last time in the measured paleo- record when CO2levels were as high as present levels, the seas were approximately 70 feet higher than today. 136. The concentration of other GHGs in the atmosphere have also increased. For example, methane concentrations have increased approximately 250% since the pre- industrial period. 137. GHGs in the atmosphere act like a blanket over Earth to trap the heat that it receives from the sun. Without this greenhouse effect, the average surface temperature Of our planet would be WIT (-18°C) instead of 59°F (15°C). Scientists have understood this basic mechanism of global warming since at least the late -nineteenth century. More Complaint Page 46 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI GHGs in the atmosphere means that more heat is being retained on Earth, with less heat radiating back out into space, causing a disruption in Earth's energy balance. 138. A substantial portion of every ton of CO2 emitted by humans persists in the atmosphere for as long as a millennium or more; therefore, the impacts associated with the COZ emissions of today will be mostly borne by children and future generations. The Earth will continue to warm in reaction to concentrations of CO2 from past emissions, as well as future emissions. This scientific concept has been well understood and accepted by Defendants for multiple decades. 139. Over 90 percent of the excess heat caused by rising COZ levels is being absorbed by the oceans, causing the largest ice sheets on the planet to melt. Oceans will retain that heat for much longer than the surface of the earth because water must lose more energy in order to cool. Thus, future generations will continue to be harmed by the warming oceans long after climate pollution is eliminated. 140. By the time Alaska became a state, the federal government well understood that CO2 caused dangerous climate change. In 1955, a research paper supported by the United States Office of Naval Research, The Carbon Dioxide Theory of Climate Change, clearly linked the release of carbon dioxide from human activities to temperature increases. A 1965 White House Report, Restoring the Quality of Our Environment, linked rising carbon dioxide emissions to temperature increases, melting of the Antarctic ice cap, sea level rise and warming, acidification, and other impacts. 141. A September 17, 1969 White House Memorandum acknowledged that " [i]t is now pretty clearly agreed that the COZ content will rise 25% by 2000. This could increase the average temperature near the earth's surface by 7 degrees Fahrenheit. This in Complaint Page 47 of 95 Sinnok et al V. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI turn could raise the level of the sea by 10 feet. Goodbye New York. Goodbye Washington [DC], for that matter." 142. For decades, the U.S. Government and the State of Alaska have acknowledged that climate change is occurring from burning fossil fuels, that its adverse effects are underway and that a continuation of a fossil fuel -based energy system and unabated GHG emissions would consign future generations to irreversible and catastrophic consequences. In 2014, the National Climate Assessment acknowledged that "the cumulative weight of the scientific evidence ... confirms that climate change is affecting the American people now, and that choices we make will affect our future and that of future generations." 143. The State of Alaska has also long known that it is on the frontline of climate change impacts due to its northern latitudes and the fact that the planet is warming more quickly at the poles. Whereas the global average temperature has increased more than I °C above preindustrial temperatures, Alaska's temperatures have increased by 3-4°C. 144. U.S. Senator for Alaska Ted Stevens stated in 2001 that "There is little doubt that Alaskans are feeling the effects of climate change more than anyone else in our nation." 145. Climate Change Impacts result from human -caused GHG pollution, deforestation, and degradation of soils. Climate Change Impacts are already injuring and irreversibly destroying human and other natural systems, causing loss of life and pressing species to extinction. Based on GHG emissions already in the atmosphere, absent immediate science -based action, climate change is projected to produce catastrophic and Complaint Page 48 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl irreversible consequences for humanity and nature alike. Unless arrested by immediate science -based action, climatic tipping points will be reached and points of no return will be crossed after which catastrophic Climate Change Impacts will be unavoidable and irreversible. 146. Well -documented and observable impacts from the changes in the climate system in Alaska highlight that the current level of atmospheric COz concentration, over 400 parts per million, has already taken Alaska and the rest of Earth into a danger zone. In fact, Michael Kuperberg, director of the U.S. Global Change Research Program at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, admitted in a 2017 deposition that climbing emissions have placed the nation "in a danger zone." Current COZ and GHG concentrations are resulting in the warming of land surfaces, the warming and acidification of oceans, increased atmospheric moisture levels, rises in the global sea level, and changes in rainfall and atmospheric air circulation patterns that affect water and heat distribution, among other impacts. 147. One key observable change is the rapid increase in recorded global surface temperatures. As a result of increased atmospheric CO2 and GHGs from human activities, based on fundamental scientific principles, the Earth has been warming as scientists have predicted. The increased concentrations of GHGs in our atmosphere have raised average global surface temperature by just over 1 °C from 1880 to 2016, which is above the maximum warming of the Holocene era, the—12,000 year epoch of relatively stable climate, which allowed human civilization to develop. In the last thirty years, the acceleration of change has intensified as the Earth has been warning at a rate three times faster than that over the previous one hundred years. According to the National Complaint Page 49 of 95 Sinnok et al V. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI Aeronautics and Space Administration ("NASA"), 2016 was the hottest year on record, with 2014 and 2015 falling into second and third places, respectively, with 2017 in the running for making the second hottest year in recorded history. 148. The United States Environmental Protection Agency that climate change ahead h ("EPA") has found Y arms our health and welfare and will only worsen without immediate action. Human -caused fossil fuel extraction and combustion and the resulting climate change are already contributing to an increase in asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke, heat -related morbidity and mortality, food -borne diseases, and neurological diseases and disorders.. Climate change threatens the basic requirements for maintaining health like clean air and pure water, sufficient Increased atmospheric concentrations food, and adequate shelter. of COz results in food crops with decreased nutritional content. Climate change also increases occurrence of infectious diseases, including those spread by mosquitos, ticks, and other pests. Children are especially vulnerable to adverse health impacts due to climate change. 149. Mental health disorders are likely to be one of the most dangerous indirect health effects of climate change. The mental health effects include elevated levels of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and a distressing sense of loss. The impacts of these mental health effects include chronic depression, increased incidences of suicide, substance abuse, and greater social disruptions like increased violence. 150. Climate change is already causing, and will continue to result in, more frequent, extreme, and costly weather events, such as floods and hurricanes and other storm -related events. The annual number of major tropical storms and hurricanes has Complaint Page 50 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI increased over the past 100 years in North America, coinciding with increasing temperatures in the Atlantic sea surface. 151. The science of attributing extreme weather events to climate change is developing rapidly and now can be used to make significant, scientifically accurate probabilistic predictions about future weather events and the expected severity of weather -related natural disasters. Scientifically reliable research has been done and continues to advance establishing a causal relationship between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and certain extreme weather events. 152. Scientific evidence demonstrates that projected non -linear sea level rise would submerge substantial portions of Alaska's coast and increase the severity of storm surge, coastal flooding, and erosion, impacting many Alaskans, necessitating relocation of entire communities and causing trillions of dollars of property loss, unless there are immediate reductions in CO2 and GHG emissions. Some communities already require relocation and many more are imminently threatened. Global mean sea level has risen about 8-9 inches since the industrial revolution and 3 of those inches have occurred since 1993. Even these relatively small increases have had substantial effect on low-lying areas. 153. Scientists have established that during certain periods of the geologic record sea level has occurred very rapidly. This geologic evidence for prior rapid ice sheet disintegration verifies that the numerous reinforcing, accelerating feedbacks are occurring with respect to recent sea ice and ice sheet melt. 154. In 2017, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published the most recent United States Government sea level rise projections, once Complaint Page 51 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI again confirming that sea level rise is a certain impact of climate change. NOAA's projections included a range between 4.1-8 feet global mean sea level rise for 2100. However, for certain coastlines across the U.S., the high ranges could be 1-3.3 feet higher. NOAA's 2017 projections are higher than the projections it made just five years ago in its 2012 assessment. 155. Under NOAA's 2017 projected scenarios, there could be 2 feet of sea level rise by 2048, 4 feet by 2074, 6 feet by 2093, 8 feet by 2110, and 10 feet by 2125. A 2-3 foot rise of sea level will make nearly all of the barrier islands of the world uninhabitable, result in inundation of a major portion of the world's deltas, and make low-lying coastal zones increasingly challenging communities in which to maintain infrastructure and welfare and to assure protection of life and property. Alaska's coastal villages will be increasingly threatened with storm surge, flooding, and coastal erosion. 156, NOAA reports that even 3 feet of sea level rise would permanently inundate 2 million American's homes and communities and 6.6 feet of sea level rise would put 6 million U.S. homes underwater. 157. NOAA's projection of up to 8 feet of sea level rise by 2100 is representative of sea level projections typically made in the scientific literature based on current modeling, including the current rate of accelerated melting in the poles, but it does not address other plausible high -risk scenarios. The scientific consensus regarding the historic rapid pulses in sea level rise as ice sheets disintegrate is not incorporated in NOAA's 2017 model, or any of the modeling summarized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Thus, all of those governmental reports likely underestimated the severity and speed with which the seas will rise. Complaint Page 52 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI 158. The best scientific information available projects a 15-40 foot rise in sea level by 2100 if current trends continue, with ever greater rises and acceleration in subsequent centuries until such time as levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are dramatically reduced and steps are taken to cool the upper portion of the ocean. 159. Increased CO2 emissions are having a severe negative impact on our oceans, in addition to our climate system. The oceans absorb around 25-30% of global CO2 emissions, resulting in their acidification. Ocean acidity has been rising at a geologically unprecedented rate. Currently, acidity is rising at least 100 times faster than at any other period during the last 100,000 years, threatening marine life, including human food sources, and killing coral reefs. 160. Climate change and ocean acidification are threatening the survival and wellbeing of plants, fish and wildlife, and Earth's biodiversity. As many as one in six species are threatened with extinction due to climate change. Many more species that do not face extinction will face changes in abundance, distributions, and species interactions that cause adverse impacts for ecosystems and humans. Almost two-thirds of common plants and half of all animals are projected to decline dramatically in population this century as a result of climate change, absent meaningful science -based action. 161. Climate change is resulting, and projected to increasingly result, in increased frequency and severity of wildfires. Antbropogenic climate change has already increased the risk of severe wildfire in Alaska by as much as 60%. 162. Increased wildfires threaten forest and agricultural industries, private property, and public health. Smoke and particulate matter from wildfires endanger Complaint Page 53 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI individuals with asthma and other respiratory and cardiovascular conditions as well as the elderly and young children. 163. Increased severity and frequency of stonns and severe weather events threatens health and safety. These events increase the risk of accidental injury, drowning and death. In rural communities, like many of those in Alaska, where serious medical emergencies require medivac trips to larger communities, these events can ground flights or prevent safe travel, endangering health. 164. The best available climate science today prescribes that global heating must be limited to no more than 1 °C in the long-term, with a short-term peak of no more than 1.5°C, in order to avert the worst and most catastrophic impacts of climate change. According to the current climate science, to prevent long-term global heating greater than 1 °C and to avoid short-term heating of more than 1.5°C, concentrations of atmospheric COz must decline to 350 ppm or less by the end of this century. If COZ emission reductions begin in 2018, the global average annual rate of reduction would need to be 9.2% per year.' In addition to eliminating COz emissions, the scientific prescription to return to 350 ppm requires the global sequestration of 100 gigatons of CO2 through improved land management practices and protection of forests and soils. The best available science dictates that this prescription is necessary to restore balance to Earth's climate system and avoid the worst and most catastrophic Climate Change Impacts, 165. In the longer run, beyond this century, to avoid catastrophic ice sheet melt and sea level rise, atmospheric CO2 levels need to continue to decrease and likely need to 1 Since Youth Plaintiffs submitted their Petition for Rulemaking, calculations of the global rate of reduction of CO2 have changed, indicating that steeper reductions are necessary to avert the worst and most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Complaint Page 54 of 95 Siunok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI return closer to levels of the Holocene epoch at 280 ppm. There is only one way to accomplish this and it is by significantly and swiftly reducing fossil fuels as a source of energy. For every additional year of delay, it becomes that much more difficult to reach 350 ppm by 2100. 166. Oceans have the same scientific standard of protection. Critically important ocean ecosystems, such as coral reefs, and critical foundational food web species, like phytoplankton and zooplankton, including pteropods, are substantially impaired and threatened with increasingly devastating impacts by today's global annual mean CO2 concentrations of approximately 404 ppm. According to current science, atmospheric CO2 levels should be reduced to no more than 350 ppm in order to protect ocean ecosystems, foundational food web species, and coral reefs from dangerous acidification and warming. As new scientific studies become available, the best science may show the need to reduce levels well lower than 350 ppm to protect ocean systems. 167. Experts have already concluded the feasibility of, and prepared a roadmap for, the transition of Alaska's all-purpose energy systems (for electricity, transportation, heating/cooling, and industry) to a 100 percent renewable portfolio by 2050, which, in addition to direct climate benefits, will reduce air pollution and save lives and costs associated with air pollution. 168.. Opportunities to sequester carbon through improved land use practices are technically and economically feasible. For example, improved forestry and agricultural practices can provide a net drawdown of atmospheric CO2, primarily via reforestation, helping to return to safe levels of atmospheric CO2. Climate Change Impacts in Alaska Are Already Severe and Will Increase, Disproportionately Affecting Young People Complaint Page 55 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI 169. As a result of anthropogenic climate change, average annual temperatures in Alaska have risen at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the world in the last few decades. Alaska's average annual temperatures have increased 2-3 degrees Celsius since the 1950's and as much as 6.3 degrees Celsius in the winter since the 1950s. According'to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Alaska was as high as eleven degrees Fahrenheit over the temperature norm in 2016. Recent findings by the Alaska Research Center show an increase in average winter temperature for the state from 1949 to 2016 of 6.7 degrees Fahrenheit, with increases as high as 9.9 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas. 170. By midcentury, as climate change progresses, average annual temperatures in Alaska are projected to increase an additional 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit and by as much as 8 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. The warming that has occurred to date is already causing sweeping and alarming impacts to Alaska's ecosystems. Snowfall is arriving later in the season, melting earlier, and increasingly falling as rain instead of snow. 171, Anthropogenic climate change has caused and is causing a decrease in both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice, with an expanse of sea ice about twice the size of Texas having vanished over the past thirty Years. The volume of late summer arctic sea ice is now estimated to be only one -fifth of what it was in 1980. The rate at which sea ice is disappearing is accelerating as climate change progresses. The last three years have established consecutive new record lows for maximum extent sea "ice. 172• As reflective sea ice melts and is replaced by sunlight -absorbing dark ocean surface, loss of sea ice creates a feedback effect further amplifying global warning Complaint Page 56 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI and accelerating further loss of sea ice, a phenomenon known as the "albedo effect." Further increase in temperatures is projected to melt the remaining sea ice by the 2030's. This will cause devastating impacts to Alaska's wildlife and human communities. 173. Loss of sea ice has increasingly devastating consequences for seals, walruses, narwhal, and other marine and Arctic mammals, with associated impacts to individuals and communities for whom these animals are a primary food source. Sea ice loss is projected to result in loss of two-thirds of the polar bear population. 174. Loss of sea ice increases the exposure of coastal communities to flooding, coastal erosion, and high energy storms and storm surges, which are increasingly frequent and severe as a result of climate change and sea level rise, threatening many villages and necessitating relocation of entire communities. In the past 30 years, 100-300 feet of coastline has washed away from the north coast of Alaska between the U.S.-Canadian border and Icy Cape. Some Native villages are losing up to 50 to 75 feet of land each year. According to U.S. Geological Survey, 84 percent of the Alaska coast is eroding. In 2003 the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that 86% of Alaskan Native Villages are experiencing flooding and erosion due to climate change. In many of these communities, including Shishmaref, these impacts have gotten so bad as to necessitate relocation of the entire village. 175. Anthropogenic climate change is causing accelerating glacier melt and retreat in Alaska. Alaska is experiencing the fastest loss of glacier ice on Earth with the vast majority of Alaska's glaciers in retreat and many already melted entirely. Alaska is one of the largest mountain glacier contributors to sea level rise. In 2012, data showed that Alaska's glaciers were melting at the rate of 46 billion tons of ice per year. The rate Complaint Page 57 of 95 Sinnok et a] v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI Of loss is only accelerating as climate change progresses; in 2015, Alaska's pace of glacial melt had risen to 75 billion tons of ice per year. 176. Glacial melt leads to rising sea levels, changes to localized ocean salinity, and affects ocean currents and ocean circulation. Increasing glacial melt also causes flooding and even landslides. Additionally, glacial melt has profound impacts on freshwater and marine aquatic resources, including river systems, with associated resulting impacts to wildlife, ecology, drinking water, fisheries, and downstream hydrologic resources. For instance, increased glacial melt can in stream water turbidity with negative impacts to salmon and fish populations and can lead to flood events that wash salmon eggs from streambeds. 177. Anthropogenic climate change is causing accelerating thawing of permafrost in Alaska. Permafrost underlies about 80 percent of Alaska's surface, and over 70 percent of that surface is vulnerable to land sinkage due to permafrost thaw. Over the past 20 to 30 years, permafi"ost temperatures have increased I to 2 degrees Celsius. Absent science -based action to reduce GHG emissions, near surface permafrost is projected to be lost entirely from large parts of Alaska by the end of the century. 178. Permafrost acts as a large carbon sink, storing massive amounts of GHGs. Permafrost holds about 50 percent of soil carbon. Thawing permafrost releases GHGs, which, absent science -based emissions reductions, could create a self -reinforcing climate change feedback loop resulting in further accelerating permafrost thaw and runaway climate change. If all the world's permafrost thawed, it could double the amount of heat - trapping COZ in the atmosphere causing all of the ice on the planet to melt. Complaint Page 58 of 95 Sinnok et a] v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 179. Permafrost thaw is causing land subsidence and sinkholes in Alaska, compromising structural integrity of houses, buildings, pipelines, plumbing, and other infrastructure. Thawing permafrost threatens many of Alaska's roadways, including the Alaska Highway. The costs of repair necessitated by thawing pennafrost are projected to add as much as $6.1 billion to the costs of maintaining public infrastructure in the Arctic. 180. Land subsidence from .permafrost thaw has also resulted in the loss of large forested areas in Alaska. Additionally, Permafrost thaw releases water and debris that impacts water quality, including turbidity, sedimentation, nutrients, and other contaminants, affecting human communities and fish and wildlife. 181. Permafrost stabilizes the ground and thus absorbs the impacts of ocean waves and protects against coastal erosion. As a result of thawing permafrost and other effects of climate change such as sea level rise, loss of sea ice, and increased frequency and severity of storms and storm surge, many Alaskan coastal communities are experiencing rapid coastal erosion. Many native villages, including Shishmaref; Kivalina, Newtok, and dozens of other coastal communities are faced with the necessity of relocation as a result, threatening Alaska Natives' cultural heritage and way of life. 182. Anthropogenic climate change is increasing the risk, incidence, and severity of wildfires in Alaska. Historically, the Alaskan tundra has been too wet and cold to support extensive fires. However, climate change has altered wildfire dynamics in Alaska leading to tundra fires in the central Alaska arctic that are unprecedented within the last 5,000 years. Like melting sea ice, increased absorption of light by burned tundra can influence feedback loops that accelerate and reinforce climate change. The increased Complaint Page 59 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl incidence of forest fires resulting from climate change also accelerates the degradation and thawing of permafrost, among other impacts. 183. As a result of anthropogenic climate change, wildfires across Alaska have increased in area burned and frequency since the 1950's with wildfires in the 2000's having increased tenfold compared to the 1950's and 60's. There has also been a dramatic increase in larger fires, those that consume between 10,000 and 50,000 acres. Because of Alaska's hotter, drier, and longer summers, reduced soil moisture, changes in Precipitation and increased evaporation, all stemming from climate change, Alaska's wildfire season is now 40% longer than it was in the 1950's, running from May to August, or 35 days longer than it did 60 years ago. 184. Alaska's forests are also threatened by spruce beetles, which because of the warming climate, are increasing in population and expanding their habitat northward. With warmer temperatures, spruce beetles are now able to mature in one year when it had previously taken two years, leading to population booms that kill massive numbers of trees, and create stands of dead trees prone to wildfire. 185. Increasing wildfires have dire consequences for human health in Alaska. Wildfire smoke affects air quality, harming eyes, irritating respiratory systems, and worsening chronic heart and lung diseases. 186. Due to climate change, Alaska wildfires are projected to increase 150 to 390 percent by midcentury with grave consequences for forests and wildlife. An increase of wildfires of this magnitude would transform the species profiles of Alaska's forests and their suitability for timber production and wildlife. Complaint Page 60 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI i 187. Alaska is particularly prone to ocean acidification due to low temperatures and low salt content of marine waters caused by freshwater input from melting sea ice. The sea creatures in the polar region rely on particular conditions to survive. Notably, zooplankton, a major food source for salmon, herring, and whales, are particularly susceptible to ocean acidification. The incidence of severe pteropod shell deformation attributable to anthropogenic ocean acidification has already doubled in near -shore habitats since pre -industrial conditions and is projected to triple by 2050. Alaska's crab and shellfish populations and industries are also affected by ocean acidification. 188. According to a 2015 study, the "largest and most rapid changes in pH will occur in the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea" in the next decade. Absent science -based emissions reductions, projected rates of ocean acidification would overwhelm the ability of marine calcifiers to build and maintain their shells, which will further impair Alaska's fisheries. Absent swift implementation of science -based emissions reductions, Alaska's marine waters' capacities to further absorb carbon dioxide could be reached as early as 2025 in the Beufort Sea, 2027 in the Chuchki Sea, and 2044 in the Bering Sea. These implications are dire not only for Alaska's marine life, but also for the Alaskans that rely upon it, including subsistence fisherpeople and the commercial fishing industry, which constitutes the largest private sector employer in Alaska. 189. Climate change is having and will increasingly have profound impacts on Alaska's wildlife, with resulting impacts to the Alaskans who rely upon them and the ecosystems they support. Arctic species are specialized to the extreme conditions in which they live so species diversity is low and the food web is relatively small. The depletion of even one species when those conditions change produces ripple effects Complaint Page 61 of 95 Sinnok et a] v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI throughout the entire ecosystem. The influx of rising temperatures, declining sea ice, thawing permafrost, increased wildfires, glacial melt, and increased ocean acidification has left Arctic species very sensitive and increasingly vulnerable. In the Pribilof Islands off the coast of Alaska alone, climate change is credited as the cause of decline for twenty native species. 190. Alaska's salmon populations, which provide subsistence for Native communities and provide a substantial portion of the state's economy, face devastating impacts in the absence of science -based emissions reductions. Considering rising temperatures alone, scientists predict that summer habitats in the North Pacific and part of the Arctic Ocean will decrease 86% for Chinook, 45% for sockeye, 36% for steelhead, and 30% for coho, pink, and chum salmon. The open ocean Gulf of Alaska habitat for Chinook and sockeye could be completely lost by 2100 as a result of climate change. Warming of freshwater and marine habitat, increased landslides, seawater rise, changes in running time and changing zooplankton availability, increased stream flooding, decreased stream snow cover, altered hydrology in spawning rivers, reduced productivity in nursing habitats, and changed frequency and distribution of predator, prey, and competitor species, as well as other impacts, each associated with climate change, present increasing dangers to Alaska's salmon. 191. Warming ocean waters in Alaska is causing fish like cod and haddock, and many other species, to move farther and farther north in search of cold, oxygen rich water, changing species composition and relative abundances and substantially altering the arctic food web structure and ecosystem functioning. This northward migration also effects Alaska's fishing industry and fisherpeople, who must increasingly make longer Complaint Page 62 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI trips for their catch. These longer journeys result in increased spoiled catches and threaten the safety of fisherpeople. 192. Sixteen of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's 38 species of mammals are at increasingly severe risk from progressing climate change. Six of these species are considered extremely vulnerable to climate change, meaning that their numbers or range within the Refuge will substantially decrease or disappear by 2050, absent science -based emissions reductions, including the polar bear, the arctic fox, the muskox, the tundra vole, the brown lemming, and the collared lemming. Ten other species are considered highly vulnerable and are projected to decrease significantly by 2050. These include the lynx, wolverine, caribou, Dall sheep, Alaska marmot, arctic ground squirrel, singing vole, northern bog lemming, tundra shrew, and barren ground shrew. 193. Caribou have been, and are increasingly, impacted by climate change. Thirty-four of the 43 major herds studied in the last decade are in decline with caribou populations plunging 57%from their historical peaks. The causes of the decline are straightforward and chief among them is rapidly rising Arctic temperatures. For Alaska's largest caribou herd, the Western Arctic Herd, scientists forecast up to a 53% increase in habitat area burned by wildfires by 2099, with up to a 60% increase in tundra fires in the region by 2053 alone. These effects will have corresponding impacts on caribou abundance and on the subsistence hunters reliant on them. 194. Rising temperatures are resulting in expanding tick habitat and populations, exposing moose and other animals, as well as humans, to parasite and disease. Complaint Page 63 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI 195. Changes in tundra vegetation resulting from climate change are predicted to drastically alter the extent and habitat of songbird breeding habitat. Scientists predict that breeding conditions for Arctic migratory birds could shift, contract, and collapse by 2070 due to climate change. Of 24 shorebird species assessed in one study alone, as many as 83 % are predicted to lose most of their breeding area, with declines being fastest in Western Alaska. A study by the Audubon Society in 2015 concluded that of 50 Alaskan bird species analyzed, all but three were projected to lose more than half of their summer habitat as a result of climate change. 196. Climate change is also affecting, and projected to increasingly affect, vegetation in Alaska, with evergreen forests shifting northward into the tundra and being replaced by grasslands or temperate forests at the southern edge of the biome. Warmer temperatures allow tree species previously found at lower latitudes and elevations to invade, or alter, higher altitude and tundra ecosystems. High latitude evergreens are especially at risk with changing precipitation patterns associated with climate change in Alaska, with past substantial mortality events for western hemlock, Sitka spruce, and Yellow cedar linked to the transition from snowy to rainy winters and projected high mortality rates at northern latitudes as warming continues. 197. The changing climate also affects human health and safety in Alaska. Decreases in sea ice extent and thickness, decreases in snow, and increasingly icy road conditions are increasingly making hunting, fishing, and travel more dangerous and increasing the vulnerability of coastal communities to stones, flooding, and coastal erosion. Global warming has led to an increase in dangerous landslides and rockfalls. Debris and pollutants from thawing permafrost, and flooding from glacial melt and Complaint Page 64 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- C1 increased rain impact the water supply and quality of Alaska's communities. Damage to infrastructure from thawing permafrost and increased flooding events can result in damage and disruption to water and sanitation infrastructure ultimately leading to infectious diseases like food- and water -born illnesses. Thawing permafrost has led to exposure to and illness from viruses and bacteria long frozen in the soil. Alaska's climate change -induced warming increases the risk and exposure of humans and animals alike to vector borne diseases and substantial increases in winged and stinging insects and airborne allergens. Additionally, climate change is predicted to result in food scarcity, water scarcity, and an increase of wildfires in Alaska. Many people in Alaska use their underground freezers to store subsistence foods throughout the year. As the ground warms, these traditional storage methods are not able to provide safe food storage. 198. These climate change impacts in Alaska are already having profound effects on subsistence lifestyles and these effects are only projected to increase absent science -based emissions reductions. Many local populations of fish, marine mammals, and seabirds have already been reduced or displaced. Reduced snow cover, shorter river and sea ice seasons, changing precipitation patterns, increasing wildfires, and permafrost thawing all obstruct travel and the harvest of wild food. 199. Climate Change Impacts are harming, and absent science based action on climate change, will increasingly harm Alaska's Native communities and cultures, their traditions, and their abilities to transmit their culture and traditions to future generations. Alaska Native and other indigenous communities share unique historical and cultural relationships with ancestral lands, significantly shaping their identities and cultures. This deep connection with the land and environment is integral to Alaska natives' culture. Complaint Page 65 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl Alaska Native communities have a deep relationship with ancestral homelands for .sustenance, religious communion and comfort, and to maintain the strength of personal and inter -familial identities. Through language, songs, and ceremonies, Alaska's Native communities honor their sacred places as well as their traditions and the species they rely on for sustenance. Alaska's climate system, land, water, fish, and wildlife has sustained Alaska Native communities and cultures for thousands of years. As a result of climate change, these lands, waters, fish, and wildlife, and the climate system are being disrupted and changing in ways that were not anticipated based on traditional knowledge. Natural conditions increasingly no longer correspond with traditional knowledge. As a result, Native knowledge and traditions are increasingly at risk of being lost. 200. Alaska Native subsistence lifestyles, traditions, and practices, and the species they depend on, are important both nutritionally and culturally for Alaskan Native culture and wellbeing. Changes in sea and river ice have adversely affected the ability of Native communities to fish and hunt for species which are part of their traditional subsistence diets. Loss of sea and river ice adversely impacts subsistence fishing and hunting. Changing sea ice patterns adversely affects the animals themselves as well as access to them by hunters. Reductions in sea and river ice has made fishing and hunting more dangerous and difficult. 201. Climate change is adversely affecting the health and livelihoods of many Alaska Native Communities. Water distribution systems are at risk to erosion and flooding caused by climate change. Climate change also increases Native food insecurity due to adverse impacts to hunting and fishing opportunities and subsistence species. In many parts of Alaska, traditional Native food storage methods, like underground cellars, Complaint Page 66 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI are no longer reliable to safely store food due to permafrost melt and rising temperatures, also harming food security. 202. Due to Climate Change Impacts including rising sea levels, the thawing of permafrost, and the increase of storms and precipitation, Alaska Native Villages are suffering from unprecedented rates of flooding and erosion. This flooding and erosion is . consuming and destroying Native lands, forcing entire communities to abandon their homes and the ancestral lands to which their traditions and cultures are tied and to relocate. Relocation can sever the deep and long-standing connections of Native Alaska communities to their ancestral lands. Many Native Alaskan communities lack the resources to fund relocation, increasing the probability that, if forced to relocate, the communities' members would not be able to relocate to the same place. This threatens the very existence and transmission of the culture and tradition of these Native communities. 203. Climate change is already, and, absent science -based action, will increasingly result in massive adverse economic impacts to Alaska's economy. Economic and financial losses from climate change impacts are wide-ranging and span across many sectors, including healthcare, wildlife and fisheries management, disaster relief, infrastructure construction and repair, and energy development, among others. Total cumulative damages to infrastructure alone in Alaska resulting from unmitigated climate change this century have been estimated as costing as much as $5.5 billion. 204. Further unmitigated emissions from Alaska will only exacerbate and increase the Climate Impacts already occurring and projected for Alaska. Defendants' Longstanding Knowledge and Perpetuation of Climate Danger Complaint Page 67 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- . Cl 205. State of Alaska governmental documents from as early as 1998 demonstrate Alaska goverrunental knowledge of anthropogenic climate change and global warming. 206. A 1999 regional report on Alaska entitled "Preparing for a Changing Climate" identified projected Climate Change Impacts in Alaska. 207. In 2001, U.S. Senator for Alaska Ted Stevens, in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, chaired a special public hearing at the University of Fairbanks before the Committee to "present facts and predictions on the Arctic climate change issue and the impact it is having on the Arctic Region." Senator Stevens stressed the "practical need to address the impact of climate change" and emphasized that Climate Change Impacts "require more than a slow -moving response as far as the Federal and State governments are concerned." 208. On June 7, 2006, recognizing the urgency and severity of climate change in Alaska, and acknowledging that Alaska then had "only one employee working on these issues," the Alaska legislature, with the passage of HRC 30, created the Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission ("ACIAC") to assess the effects of climate change in Alaska and "recommend policies to decrease the negative effects of climate change." ACIAC was charged with holding public hearings around the state to guide its assessment and recommendations and to deliver a final report on its findings and recommendations to the legislature on January 10, 2008. 209. In advance ofACIACIs final report, the DCCED, the Department of Health and Social Services, the Department of Fish and Game, the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, DEC, the Department of Military and Veterans Complaint Page 68 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI Affairs, and DNR submitted letters to ACIAC detailing Climate Change Impacts in Alaska. 210. Over ten years ago, in a presentation to the ACIAC on January 24, 2007, DEC recognized the Climate Change Impacts facing Alaska and their projected increase. In the presentation, DEC publicly acknowledged that "[i]t's a DEC duty not only to react/mitigate, but to act to prevent and control damage to the environment caused by greenhouse gases." DEC's presentation noted that DEC has the authority and ability to "lead the regulatory functions of reducing emissions." 211. In its final report to the legislature dated March 17, 2008, ACIAC detailed numerous urgent Climate Impacts occurring in Alaska and recognized that `the State of Alaska is at the leading edge of impacts resulting from a warming climate" and that "[t]here will be new responsibilities for the State of Alaska" in addressing the challenge of climate change. ACIAC acknowledged that "[a]s stated in the [2004] Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, 'The science suggests that responding to this challenge will require two sets of actions; one, mitigation, to slow the speed and amount of future climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and the other, adaptation, to attempt to limit adverse impacts by becoming more resilient to the climate changes that will occur while society pursues the first set of actions."' The ACIAC was terminated in 2008 after its final report to the legislature. 212. Administrative Order 238, signed on September 14, 2007 by then - Governor Sarah Palin, established the Alaska Climate Change Sub -Cabinet. Order 238 was based in part on a finding that "[a]s a result of [global] warming, coastal erosion, thawing permafrost, retreating sea ice, record forest fires, and other changes are affecting, Complaint Page 69 of 95 Sinnok et al V. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI and will continue to affect, the lifestyles and livelihoods of Alaskans." The Sub -Cabinet was composed of the commissioners of several departments, including DEC, DNR, Fish and Game, and DCCED and chaired by Commissioner Hartig. 213. The Sub -Cabinet was charged with making recommendations to the Governor on preparation and implementation of an Alaska Climate Change Strategy, which was to include measures the state can take to: 1) build its knowledge regarding climate change; 2) avoid or adapt to the predicted effects of climate change; and 3) mitigate the causes of climate change. 214. The Alaska Climate Change Strategy was required to be "built on sound science and the best available facts." Governor Palin's Report on the Climate Change Sub -Cabinet dated July 2008 also stated that Order 238 was meant, in part, to further the Possibility of adopting policies "to regulate greenhouse gas emissions." 215. The Sub -Cabinet's recommendations were drawn from recommendations of the Mitigation Advisory Group ("MAG"), which assessed measures that could be taken to reduce Alaska's GHG emissions. MAG was in turn supported by five Technical Work Groups assembled around general greenhouse gas mitigation action categories, including: oil and gas; energy supply and land use; transportation and land use; forestry, agriculture, and waste; and cross -cutting issues. 216. The Cross -Cutting Technical Work Group was responsible for making Policy recommendations that cover multiple sectors. As detailed in the MAG's final report, dated August 2009, the Cross -Cutting Technical Work Group made six policy recommendations that were approved by the MAG: Complaint Page 70 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI a. Establish an Alaska GHG emission reporting program, headed by DEC; b. Establish goals for statewide GHG emissions reductions; c. Identify and implement state government mitigation actions; d. Integrate Alaska's climate change mitigation strategy with the Alaska Energy Plan; e. Explore various market -based systems to manage GHG emissions; and f. Coordinate implementation of Alaska's efforts to address climate change. 217. In its final report, MAG issued a number ofpolicy recommendations to address climate change including: energy transmission optimization and expansion; energy efficiencies for residential, commercial, and industrial customers; renewable energy implementation; building standards; and energy efficiency for industrial installations; forest management and reforestation strategies for carbon sequestration in coastal and boreal forests; community wildfire risk reduction plans; expanded use of biomass feedstocks for energy production (heat, power, alternative fuels); and advanced waste reduction and recycling; oil & gas conservation practices; reducing fugitive methane emissions; electrification of North Slope operations with centralized power, improved equipment efficiency; renewable energy in O&G operations; carbon capture, sequestration, and enhanced oil recovery strategies within and away from known geologic traps; greater commuter choices; heavy-duty vehicle idling; transportation system management; efficient development patterns; promotion of alternative -fuel vehicles; vehicle -miles -traveled and greenhouse gas reduction goals; efficiency Complaint Page 71 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl improvements in heavy-duty vehicles and marine vessels; aviation emission reduction strategies; alternative fuels research and development; establishing an Alaska greenhouse gas emission reporting program; establishing goals for statewide greenhouse gas emission reductions; encouraging the state government to lead by example; integrating this Climate Change Mitigation Strategy with Alaska's Energy Plan; and exploring market - based systems to manage greenhouse gas emissions. These recommendations have not been implemented in Alaska despite MAG's estimation that these recommendations would have reduced Alaska's GHG emissions by approximately 19% by 2025 as compared to Alaska's calculations of GHG levels projected for 2025 in MAG's 2009 report. 218. In its 2009 final report, MAG recommended that the State of Alaska establish greenhouse gas emissions goals of 20% below 1990 greenhouse gas emission levels by 2020 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. These recommendations were not implemented. According to MAG, these recommendations corresponded to the best available science at the time, however they do not correspond to the current best available science, which requires at least a 9.2% annual reduction in COz emissions per year starting in 2018. 219. The Alaska Climate Change Sub -Cabinet released several reports outlining recommendations to the Governor regarding the adaptation and mitigation of climate change. Additionally, the Sub -Cabinet completed a greenhouse gas inventory for the State of Alaska, outlining the sources of Alaska's greenhouse gas emissions and Projected emissions for future years. Complaint Page 72 of 95 Sinnok et a] v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 220. After taking office as Governor on July 26, 2009, former ConocoPhilips executive, Sean Parnell, allowed the Sub -Cabinet to go dormant. The Sub -Cabinet has not convened since 2011. 221. To date, no significant action has been taken by the Alaskan government to fulfill its constitutional, statutory, and common law obligations to address GHG emissions in an effort to combat the effects of climate change in Alaska. Instead, Defendants have persisted in systemically implementing a Climate and Energy Policy of authorizing and promoting activities resulting in dangerous levels of GHG emissions. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Levels and Accounting in Alaska 222. In its most recent GHG emissions inventory, dated March 12, 2015, DEC calculated Alaska's gross GHG emissions for 2010, the most recent year for which DEC Provided data, at 43.04 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent ("MTCO2e"). 223. In "Alaska Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Reference Case Projections, 1990-2020" prepared by the Center for Climate Strategies ("CCS") for DEC in July 2007, CCS projected that by 2020, gross Alaskan emissions of greenhouse gases would rise to 61.5 MTCO2e. According to DEC's and CCS's data, Alaska's annual emissions are similar to those of Oregon, Nevada, and Connecticut -- all states that have 3.5-7 times the Population of Alaska, and show that, on a per capita basis, Alaska's GHG emissions rank third in the nation. 224• However, neither the DEC nor the CCS GHG emissions inventories account for extraction -based emissions (emissions associated with the combustion of fuels extracted in Alaska, regardless of where such fuels are combusted.) Consequently, DEC's and CCS's inventories significantly underestimate Alaska's GHG emissions. Complaint Page 73 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI 225. DEC does not have a rigorous and current accounting and GHG emissions inventory. 226. According to DEC's inventory data for 2010, not including emissions from fuels extracted in Alaska and combusted elsewhere, the largest sources of GHG emissions in Alaska resulted from activities related to the industrial sector (fuels used in industry as well as emissions from the oil, natural gas, and coal industries) (47.1 % of statewide emissions) with industrial use and production of natural gas accounting for 33.0% of statewide emissions. The Next largest source of greenhouse gas emissions was transportation (31%). The third largest source of emissions comes from fuels combusted in residential and commercial buildings (12%) and the fourth largest source was electricity production (8%). 227. In 2016, Alaska's utility -scale electricity generation sector's portfolio was based 67% on fossil fuels. Most of Alaska's rural residents are not connected to a utility - scale grid and rely on consumer -owned electric cooperatives for power, most of which use diesel -fueled electricity generators that produce significant levels of GHG emissions. 228. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration ("EIA"), Alaska one of the largest crude oil producers in the nation," ranking sixth in the nation in crude oil production. According to the EIA, Alaska ranks third in the nation in gross natural gas withdrawals. According to the EIA, Alaska ranks second only to Hawaii in the share of its electricity that is generated from petroleum liquids. 229. The EIA figures show that 3,229,968 million feet of cubic feet of natural gas were withdrawn in Alaska and that Alaska produced 490,000 barrels of crude oil per day in 2016. Complaint Page 74 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy Allowing and Perpetuating Climate Change Dangers Violate Youth Plaintiffs' Fundamental Rights 230. Non -fossil -fuel based energy generation and transportation systems are feasible and technologically available to employ in Alaska. 231. Notwithstanding their longstanding knowledge of the dangers that GHG emissions pose to Youth Plaintiffs, Defendants have historically engaged in and continue to persist in a systemic pattern and practice of policies, customs, and actions that causes emissions of dangerous and substantial levels of GHG pollution into the atmosphere within Alaska and outside of its borders. Defendants' affirmative aggregate and 'systemic actions and omissions constitute their Climate and Energy Policy, which involves systemic authorization, permitting, encouragement, and facilitation of activities resulting in dangerous levels of GHG emissions, without regard to Climate Change Impacts or any climate change mitigation standards, while perpetually denying and delaying development of climate change mitigation standards. 232. Consistent with, providing further evidence for, and in furtherance of Defendants' Climate and Energy policy, DEC and Commissioner Hartig denied Youth Plaintiffs' Petition for Rulemaking on September 27, 2017. 233. Defendants have taken no actions designed to reduce GHG emissions in Alaska as called for by current science in spite of numerous requests to do so and in spite of recommendations for GHG emissions mitigation and regulation from within Alaska's government. Complaint Page 75 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 234. By and through their Climate and Energy Policy, as evidenced by their aggregate, system -wide affirmative actions, Defendants cause and contribute to dangerous levels of GHG emissions and Climate Change Impacts. For example: a. Defendants lead and coordinate statewide energy policy and program development; b. Defendants permit the operation of facilities and activities that emit significant levels of GHG emissions, including but not limited to projects that bum and promote the use of fossil fuels (for instance, coal-fired power plants); c. Defendants permit surface coal mining and reclamation in Alaska; d. Defendants authorize through licenses and leases the exploration and extraction of oil and gas in Alaska; e. Defendants permit oil and gas drilling in Alaska; f. Defendants permit the construction, modification, and operation of oil and gas pipelines and facilities; g. Defendants continue to actively and aggressively pursue expansion of oil and gas development in Alaska, and have even proposed increased extraction of fossil fuels in Alaska, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; h. Defendants authorize and certify fossil fuel -based utilities to operate; i. Defendants engage in a systemwide pattern and practice of issuing Permits, licenses, leases, and authorizations across departrrients and offices without climate change planning or science -based limits on the Complaint Page 76 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI amount of GHGs that can be safely released in order to protect the constitutional rights of these Youth Plaintiffs and future generations of Alaskans for whom they stand. j. Defendants authorize the development and extraction of significant amounts of fossil fuels that are not consumed in Alaska, but shipped outside the state, contributing to climate change. k. The aforementioned systemic actions, which make up Alaska's Energy and Climate and Energy Policy, omit any plan for mitigating climate change and protecting the Public Trust Resources of the state or its children and fixture generations. 235. As a result of the dangerous levels of GHG emissions caused by Defendants' implementation of their Climate and Energy Policy, and the aggregate and systemic affirmative actions and omissions taken pursuant thereto and as a part thereof, Youth Plaintiffs are being harmed and face an imminent risk of increasing and likely catastrophic harm. 236. Defendants Climate and Energy policy is ongoing, in spite of their knowledge of its dangers and in spite of requests by these Youth Plaintiffs to mitigate the harm they are causing to Plaintiffs. Defendants have made clear their Climate and Energy Policy will continue. Among other things: a. Defendants have persisted in a wrongful and systemic course of conduct affirmatively authorizing, permitting, and promoting dangerous levels of GHG emissions since at least the 1990's; Complaint Page 77 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl b. Defendants know and have known that their Climate and Energy Policy, and the affirmative aggregate and systemic actions taken Pursuant thereto and as part thereof, cause the rights of Youth Plaintiffs to be violated; c. Defendants have not implemented their own recommendations for climate stabilization, for instance the recommendations Defendants Participated in developing, or received through ACIAC, the Cross - Cutting Technical Work Group, MAG, and the Sub -Cabinet, d. Defendants have not taken prompt action to end their wrongful Climate and Energy Policy and the systemic course of illegal conduct taken pursuant thereto; e. Defendants have not implemented their authority to reduce Alaska's GHG emissions by levels that preserve the rights of Plaintiffs; f. Defendant DEC rejected and denied a petition by these Plaintiffs to establish by regulation a statewide climate recovery plan pursuant to the best available science to mitigate climate change by reducing the state's emissions; and g. Plaintiffs reasonably believe similar conduct will continue in light of their status as young people, their Petition's rejection, past experience, and Defendants' continuing implementation of their Climate and Energy Policy despite the scientific consensus that we are now in the danger zone with climate change. Complaint Page 78 of 95 Sinnok eta] v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 237. Defendants' historic and ongoing implementation of their Climate and Energy Policy is a systemic problem that Defendants are perpetuating. Defendants have allowed, and continue to allow, emitters to treat the atmosphere as a dump for their COZ and GHG emissions. By and through their Climate and Energy Policy, Defendants have allowed dangerous and unlawful levels of GHG emissions and violated the Public Trust rights and other constitutional rights of Plaintiffs. Defendants have placed Plaintiffs in a position of danger with deliberate indifference to their safety by and through the implementation of their Climate and Energy Policy. 238. Since the 1990's, Defendants have deliberately taken a series of actions that threaten the integrity of Public Trust Resources that are being harmed by climate change. 239. By and through their Climate and Energy Policy, Defendants prioritize fossil -fuel based energy generation and transportation systems over renewable energy sources and prioritize cost savings for the current generation over the constitutional rights of Plaintiffs. 240. By and through their Climate and Energy Policy, as evidenced by and implemented through their affirmative aggregate and systemic actions, Defendants have caused, contributed to, and or exacerbated dangerous levels of atmospheric GHGs, climate change, and Climate Change Impacts in violation of Youth Plaintiffs fundamental and inalienable constitutional rights. COUNT 1 Violation of Youth Plaintiffs' Substantive Due Process Rights Alaska Constitution, Article I, Section 7 Complaint Page 79 of 95 Sinnok et al v, State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI 241. Youth Plaintiffs hereby re -allege and incorporate by reference each of the allegations set forth above. 242. Article I, Section 7 of the Alaska Constitution recognizes and preserve the fundamental right of citizens to be free from government actions that harm life, liberty, and property without due process of law. These inherent and inalienable rights reflect the basic societal contract of the United States and Alaska Constitutions to protect citizens and posterity from government infringement upon basic freedoms and basic (or natural) rights. The rights to life, liberty, and property have evolved and the United States Supreme Court and Alaska Supreme Court have recognized that there are certain liberty interests protected by the due process clause that are not explicitly enumerated in the Bill of Rights. These rights, including "unenumerated rights," belong to present generations as well as to our "posterity" (or future generations). 243. For decades, Defendants have known about the dangers to Youth Plaintiffs created by excessive emissions of COz and other GHGs. Acting with full appreciation of the consequences of their conduct, Defendants knowingly caused and contributed to, and continue to knowingly cause and contribute to, dangerous interference with our atmosphere and climate system by and through their Climate and Energy Policy and the historic and ongoing affirmative and systemic actions taken pursuant thereto and as part thereof. 244. A stable climate system, including the atmosphere and the oceans, is a critical component of and necessary foundation for Youth Plaintiffs' rights to life, liberty, and property. Our climate system has been, and continues to be, harmed by Defendants. By and through Defendants' Climate and Energy policy, as evidenced by and Complaint Page 80 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI implemented through their affirmative aggregate and systemic actions, Defendants have harmed and continue to harm our climate system with full appreciation of the resulting effects. Defendants have directly infringed Youth Plaintiffs' substantive due process rights because Defendants have caused and contributed to dangerous levels of atmospheric CO2 concentrations that interfere with a stable climate system required by Youth Plaintiffs and future generations. Present concentrations of CO2 concentrations and continuing CO2 and GHG emissions, caused and contributed to by Defendants by and through Defendants' historic and ongoing implementation of their Climate and Energy Policy, endangers Youth Plaintiffs' lives, liberty, and property and other unenumerated substantive due process rights, including the rights to personal security, bodily integrity, and autonomy, and to a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberty. 245. By and through Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy, Defendants have been and are infringing on Youth Plaintiffs' right to life by causing dangerous COZ concentrations in the atmosphere and dangerous interference with Alaska's climate system. Defendants have knowingly endangered Youth Plaintiffs' personal security, bodily integrity, safety, health, and welfare by and through their Climate and Energy Policy and the historic and ongoing affirmative and systemic actions taken pursuant thereto and as part thereof. This deliberate conduct by Defendants has cumulatively resulted in dangerous levels of atmospheric COZ, infringing Youth Plaintiffs' fundamental substantive due process rights to life, liberty, and -property and other unenumerated rights, including the rights personal security, bodily integrity, and autonomy and to a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberty. Complaint Page 81 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI 246. Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy, and the affirmative aggregate and systemic actions taken pursuant thereto and as part thereof, are infringing plaintiffs' rights to liberty by causing and contributing to Climate Change Impacts, placing Youth Plaintiffs in a position of danger within dangerous atmospheric levels of CO2 and a destabilized climate system. Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy, as evidenced by and implemented through Defendants'. affirmative aggregate and systemic actions, has caused dangerous and increasing levels of atmospheric CO2, harming Youth Plaintiffs' dignity, autonomy, personal security and safety, and other liberty interests, including their capacity to provide for their basic human needs, safely raise families, learn and practice their religious and spiritual beliefs, learn and transmit their native cultural traditions and practices, maintain their bodily integrity, and lead lives with sufficient access to clean air, water, shelter, and food. 247. Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy and Defendants' actions taken Pursuant thereto and as parts thereof, if not fundamentally altered without delay, will infringe Youth Plaintiffs' fundamental right to their property interests. 248. Youth Plaintiffs are now suffering barn, and will increasingly suffer harm absent relief from this Court, from Defendants' Climate and Energy policy, by and through which Defendants knowingly have caused and contributed to and continue to cause and contribute to Climate Change Impacts and the destabilization of our climate system. 249. Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy, as evidenced by and implemented through Defendants' affirmative aggregate and systemic actions, does not operate to secure, and is not narrowly tailored to achieve a more compelling state interest than Complaint Page 82 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI Youth Plaintiffs' rights to life, liberty, and property, and other unenumerated rights, including the rights to personal security, bodily integrity, and autonomy, and to a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberties, nor can it satisfy intermediate scrutiny or rational basis review. COUNT 2, State -Created Danger Violates Youth Plaintiffs' Due Process Rights Alaska Constitution, Article I, Section 7 250. Youth Plaintiffs hereby re -allege and incorporate by reference each of the allegations set forth above. 251. For decades, Defendants have known of the dangers to Plaintiffs created by excessive emissions of CO2 and other GHGs. In spite of this longstanding knowledge, with full appreciation of the consequences of their conduct, Defendants knowingly caused and contributed to, and continue to knowingly cause and contribute to, dangerous interference with our atmosphere and climate system by and through their Climate and Energy Policy and the historic and ongoing affirmative and systemic actions taken pursuant thereto and as part thereof, placing Youth Plaintiffs in a position of danger with deliberate indifference to their safety. 251 After, knowingly creating this dangerous situation for Youth Plaintiffs, Defendants continue to knowingly enhance that danger with deliberate indifference to Youth Plaintiffs' safety by authorizing and allowing dangerous levels of GHG emissions by and through their Climate and Energy Policy, thereby violating Plaintiffs' substantive due process rights under Article I, Section 7 of the Alaska Constitution. 253. After placing Youth Plaintiffs in a position of climate danger, Defendants have continued to act with deliberate indifference to the known danger they helped create Complaint Page 83 of 95 Sinnok et al V. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI and enhance. A destabilized climate system poses unusually serious risks of harm to Plaintiffs' lives, personal security, bodily integrity, and autonomy. Defendants have had longstanding, actual knowledge of the serious risks of harm and have not taken necessary and feasible steps to address and ameliorate the known, serious risk to which they have exposed Plaintiffs. With deliberate indifference, Defendants have not implemented recommendations for climate stabilization or any other comprehensive remedial measures to effectively reduce Alaska's COz emissions consistent with levels that would adequately protect Youth Plaintiffs from dangerous climate destabilization. 254. Having placed Youth Plaintiffs in a position of danger with deliberate indifference to their safety, despite their longstanding knowledge of the dangers of GHG emissions, and despite extended opportunities spanning multiple decades, Defendants have not utilized or implemented their authority to require and implement reductions of Alaska's GHG emissions at rates that would preserve the rights of Youth Plaintiffs to life, liberty, persona] security, bodily integrity,; and autonomy, other unenumerated rights, and to a stable climate that sustains human life, in further violation of Youth Plaintiffs' substantive due process rights. COUNT3 Violation of the Equal Rights, Opportunities, and Protection Alaska Constitution, Article I, Section 7 255. Youth Plaintiffs hereby re -allege and incorporate by reference each of the allegations set forth above. 256. Article I, Section I of the Alaska Constitution prohibits Defendants from Pursuing policies and taking actions that discriminate against individuals or groups with respect to their fundamental rights or as members of a protected class. Complaint Sinnok et a] v. State of Alaska Page 84 of 95 3AN-17- Cl 257. Many of Youth Plaintiffs are members of the class of children, and all are members of the class of youth. Youth and children are a separate suspect and/or quasi - suspect class in need of extraordinary protection from the political process pursuant to the principles of equal protection. As evidenced by their Climate and Energy Policy, and the affirmative aggregate and systemic actions taken pursuant thereto and as part thereof, Defendants have a long history of deliberately discriminating against youth and future generations, including Youth Plaintiffs, in exerting their sovereign authority for the economic benefit of industry and prior and present generations of adults. Many of Youth Plaintiffs are children, an insular minority with no voting rights and little political power over Defendants and their systemic policies, practices, customs, and actions. As youth, Youth Plaintiffs have immutable age and generational characteristics that they cannot change. They are the living generation that will be most affected by the actions of Defendants. 258. Youth Plaintiffs have no avenue of redress other than this Court, as they cannot otherwise challenge or alter the systemic policies, practices, customs, and actions of Defendants. Youth Plaintiffs will disproportionately experience the irreversible and catastrophic impacts of a destabilized climate system, and ocean acidification. The adults living in our country today will not experience the full scope or degree of catastrophic harms that Youth Plaintiffs will experience. 259. For purposes of the present action, Plaintiffs should be treated as a protected class because the overwhelming majority of harmful effects caused by Defendants, by and through their Climate and Energy Policy, will occur in the future. As Youth Plaintiffs include citizens presently below the voting age, this Court should Complaint Page 85 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI determine that they must be treated as a protected class, and that state policies, practices, customs, and actions that disproportionately harm and discriminate against and endanger them must be invalidated and rectified. 260. By and through their Climate and Energy Policy, as evidenced by and implemented through their affirmative aggregate and systemic actions, Defendants have deliberately favored the interests of prior and present generations of adults to the long- term detriment of Youth Plaintiffs — precisely the sort of dysfunctional majoritazian outcome that our constitutional democratic system of government is designed to check. Such a check is especially appropriate here because, substantially as a result of Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy, the climate system will soon pass crucial tipping points after which Youth Plaintiffs will no longer be able to secure equal rights, opportunities and protection under the law and protection against an uninhabitable climate system. 261. By and through Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy, as evidenced by and implemented through their affirmative aggregate and systemic actions, Defendants have discriminated and. continue to discriminate against Youth Plaintiffs' in the exercise of their fundamental and inalienable constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, and other unenumerated rights, including their rights to personal security, bodily integrity, and autonomy, and to a climate system that sustains human life. By and through their Climate and Energy Policy, Defendants' have materially caused and contributed to, and continue to materially cause and contribute to, irreversible climate damage, harming Youth Plaintiffs and abridging central precepts of equality. As a result, the harm caused by Defendants has denied Youth Plaintiffs the same protection of fundamental rights Complaint Page 86 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl afforded to prior and present generations of adult citizens. The imposition of this disability serves only to disrespect and subordinate Youth Plaintiffs as members of the class of youth and children. 262. Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy, and the affirmative aggregate and system actions taken pursuant thereto and as part thereof, which discriminate against Youth Plaintiffs as members of a protected class, and with respect to their fundamental rights, cannot and does not operate to secure, and is not narrowly tailored to achieve, a more compelling state interest than Youth Plaintiffs' fundamental and inalienable constitutional rights to life, liberty, property, personal security, bodily integrity, autonomy, a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberty, rights under the Public Trust Doctrine, and other unenumerated rights, nor their right to be free from unlawful discrimination under the equal protection clause. Neither can the same satisfy intermediate scrutiny or rational basis review, or any level of scrutiny under the sliding - scale approach to equal protection analysis. COUNT4 Violation of the Public Trust Doctrine 263. Youth Plaintiffs hereby re -allege and incorporate by reference each of the allegations set forth above. 264. Alaska's Public Trust Doctrine traces its roots to historic common law Principles governing the sovereign', management of fish, wildlife, and water resources, Principles Alaska's framers enshrined in Article VIR of the Alaska Constitution. As an inherent attribute of sovereignty, the Public Trust Doctrine predates Alaska's Constitution and is preserved, rather than created, but it. Complaint Page 87 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 265. Youth Plaintiffs are beneficiaries of rights under the Public Trust Doctrine, rights that are secured by Article VM of the Alaska Constitution. Under the Public Trust Doctrine, Defendants are obligated to manage Alaska's vital natural resources, including all Public Trust Resources, to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations. 266. Under Article VIII of the Alaska Constitution, Public Trust Resources protected under the Public Trust Doctrine explicitly include, but are not limited to, water, mineral, wildlife, and fish resources. Alaska's Public Trust Resources also include those other essential resources that are of vital public concern to the citizens of Alaska, including at least the air (atmosphere), the sea, the shores of the sea, surface lands, and submerged lands. The overarching Public Trust Resource is the climate system, which encompasses the atmosphere, waters, oceans, and biosphere. 267. The atmosphere is intertwined and inextricably linked with all of Alaska's other Public Trust Resources including those explicitly recognized in Article VIII, and is therefore also held in trust by Defendants for the benefit of present and future Alaskans under the Public Trust Doctrine. The atmosphere is both air and water, the first two resources Emperor Justinian recognized in the Roman Code, the Institutes of Justinian, the first known written articulation of the Public Trust Doctrine. The atmosphere contains more freshwater than the rivers and lakes of Alaska and indeed contains atmospheric rivers that provide precipitation for Alaska. The atmosphere, the oceans, other freshwater resources and the biosphere are all interconnected. Harm to the atmosphere negatively affects water, wildlife, and fish resources, as well as other Public Trust Resources. Harm to the atmosphere also harms the public's ability to use, access, enjoy, and navigate other Complaint Page 88 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI Public Trust Resources, purposes and interests protected under the Public Trust Doctrine and for Public Trust Resources must be managed, preserved, and protected. 268. The Public Trust Doctrine requires all sovereign governments as trustees to maintain control, protect, preserve, and prevent substantial impairment to and waste of Public Trust Resources for the beneficiaries of the trust — all present and future generations of its citizens. The Public Trust Doctrine is an attribute of sovereignty that cannot be surrendered or abrogated. The rights of the public as beneficiaries under the Public Trust Doctrine predate Alaska's Constitution and are secured, not created, by it. 269. Defendants, as trustees, have an obligation to manage and hold in trust all Public Trust Resources for the benefit of all Alaskans, including Youth Plaintiffs and future generations of Alaskans, and to refrain from acting in a manner that abdicates control of Public Trust Resources, alienates Public Trust Resources from the trust, or results in waste or substantial impairment of Public Trust Resources. 270. Defendants, as trustees, have a duty to administer and manage Public Trust Resources with loyalty to and in the interest of trust beneficiaries — all present and future generations of Alaskans, including Youth Plaintiffs. As trustees, Defendants have a duty of impartiality prohibiting them from favoring one class or generation of beneficiaries over another in the management of Public Trust Resources. Present and future generations are equally protected classes of beneficiaries under Alaska's constitution. Thus, when carrying out its obligations as trustees, Defendants must treat present and future generations equally and cannot be shortsighted. Defendants may not manage Public Trust Resources in a manner which benefits the present class of beneficiaries at the expense and to the detriment of future beneficiaries. Complaint Page 89 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl 271. Defendants, as trustees, have a duty of care to exercise appropriate skill, prudence, and caution in managing Public Trust Resources. 272. By and through Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy, as evidenced by and implemented through Defendants' affirmative aggregate and systemic actions, Defendants have unconstitutionally caused, and continue to cause and allow, substantial impairment to Public Trust Resources, in abdication and violation of their duties to safeguard and to prevent substantial impairment to and waste of Public Trust Resources. Such abdication and violation of duty abrogates the ability of succeeding members of the legislative and executive branches to provide for the survival and welfare of Alaska's citizens and to promote the endurance of our state. 273• By and through Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy, as evidenced by and implemented through their affirmative aggregate and systemic actions, Defendants have abdicated control over and alienated substantial portions and capacities of our atmosphere and climate system in favor of the short-term interests of private parties so that these private parties can treat our atmosphere as a dump for their carbon emissions and profit off of developing Alaska's fossil fuel resources, which also results in carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Such policy, practice, and custom prejudices the Public Trust rights and interests of Youth Plaintiffs and future generations of beneficiaries in violation of Defendants' duties of loyalty, impartiality, and prudence. Defendants have abrogated their duty of care to manage the atmosphere in a manner that promotes and does not substantially impair the public interest in use, enjoyment, access, and navigation of Public Trust Resources. For instance, climate change and ocean acidification are having increasingly devastating impacts to Alaska's fisheries. Such abdication and Complaint Page 90 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl violation of duty abrogates the sovereign powers of succeeding members of the executive and legislative branches to provide for the survival and welfare of Youth Plaintiffs and fixture generations. COUNTS DEC and Commissioner Hartig s Denial of Youth Plaintiffs' Petition Violates Youth Petitioners' Constitutional Rights 274. Youth Plaintiffs hereby re -allege and incorporate by reference each of the allegations set forth above. 275. In the context of the aforementioned climate dangers and Defendants' ongoing implementation of their Climate and Energy Policy, DEC and Commissioner Hartig's Denial of Youth Plaintiffs' Petition for Rulemaking violates Youth Plaintiffs' constitutional rights and is a further basis for relief. 276. Defendants DEC and Commissioner Hartig denied Youth Plaintiffs' Petition for Rulemaking pursuant to and as part of Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy - a systemic practice and custom of authorizing, permitting, facilitating, encouraging, and otherwise allowing activities that result in dangerous levels of GHG emissions and perpetual delay of GHG emissions reductions standards. 277• By and through Defendants DEC and Commissioner Hartig's denial of Youth Plaintiffs' Petition for Rulemaking, consistent with and as part of Defendants' Climate and Energy Policy, Defendants continue to knowingly authorize, permit, facilitate, encourage, and otherwise allow activities that result in dangerous levels of GHG emissions and to delay and deny GHG emissions reductions standards, thereby causing, contributing, and/or exacerbating dangerous interference with our atmosphere and climate system. Complaint Page 91 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI 278. By continuing to allow dangerous levels of GHG emissions in Alaska and by continuing to allow and encourage governmental authorization, permitting, facilitation, encouragement, and general allowance of activities resulting in dangerous levels of GHG emissions in Alaska, Defendants DEC and Commissioner Hartig's denial of Youth Plaintiffs' Petition for Rulemaking is arbitrary and violates Youth Plaintiffs' fundamental and inalienable constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property; to equal rights, opportunities, and protection under the law by discriminating against Youth Plaintiffs as members of a protected class and with respect to their fundamental rights; to a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberty; and Youth Plaintiffs' rights as beneficiaries under Alaska's Public Trust Doctrine. PRAYER FOR RELIEF WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs respectfully requests that the Court: Declare that Defendants have constitutional duties and constitutional and statutory authority to protect and refrain from infringing Plaintiffs' fundamental and inalienable constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property; equal rights, opportunities and protection under the law; and other unenumerated rights, including the right to a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberty. Declare that Defendants have constitutional duties and constitutional and statutory authority under the Public Trust Doctrine to protect Alaska's waters, atmosphere, land, fish, wildlife, and other Public Trust Resources from substantial impairment, waste, and alienation, and to manage such resources prudently and with Complaint Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska Page 92 of 95 3AN-17- Cl impartiality and loyalty to present generations, including Youth Plaintiffs, and future generations. 3. Declare that Defendants, by and through their Climate and Energy Policy, implemented through their historical and ongoing affirmative aggregate and systemic actions, have materially caused, contributed to, and/or exacerbated climate change in violation of Youth Plaintiffs' fundamental and inalienable constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, and to a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberty. 4. Declare that Defendants, by and through their Climate and Energy Policy, implemented through their historical and ongoing affirmative aggregate and systemic actions, have placed Plaintiffs in a position of danger with deliberate indifference to their safety in a manner that shocks the conscience such that Defendants' ongoing act of omission in not reducing Alaska's GHG emissions consistent with rates that would avoid dangerous climate interference further violates Youth Plaintiffs' fundamental and inalienable constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, and to a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberty. 5. Declare that Defendants, by and through their Climate and Energy Policy, implemented through their historical and ongoing affirmative and systemic aggregate actions, have materially caused, contributed to, and/or exacerbated climate change and discriminated against Youth Plaintiffs.as members of a protected class, and with respect to their fundamental rights, in violation of Youth Plaintiffs' fundamental and inalienable constitutional right to equal rights, opportunities, and protection under the law. 6. Declare that Defendants, by and through their Climate and Energy Policy, implemented through their historical and ongoing affirmative aggregate and systemic Complaint Page 93 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI actions have violated their legal duties to retain control, protect, prudently manage, and prevent substantial impairment to the State's waters, atmosphere, land, fish, wildlife, and other Public Trust Resources, and to manage the State's Public Trust Resources with loyalty and impartiality to Youth Plaintiffs, under the Public Trust Doctrine, as expressed in the Alaska Constitution. Declare that Defendant Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and Defendant Commissioner Lawrence Hartig's denial of Youth Plaintiffs' petition for rulemaking violates Youth Plaintiffs' fundamental and inalienable constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property; to equal rights, opportunities, and protection under the law; to a stable climate system that sustains human life and liberty; and Youth Plaintiffs' rights as beneficiaries under Alaska's Public Trust Doctrine. 8. Enjoin Defendants from further violations of Youth Plaintiffs' fundamental and inalienable constitutional rights through further implementation of their Climate and Energy Policy. 9. Order Defendants to prepare a complete and accurate accounting of Alaska's GHG emissions, including an accounting of Alaska's in -boundary and extraction -based emissions. 10. Order DEC, Commissioner Hartig, and Governor Walker, in collaboration with Defendants, to develop and submit to the Court by a date certain an enforceable state climate recovery plan, which includes a carbon budget, to implement and achieve science -based numeric reductions of Alaska's in -boundary and extraction -based emissions consistent with global emissions reductions rates necessary to stabilize the Complaint Page 94 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- Cl climate system and protect the vital Public Trust Resources on which Youth Plaintiffs depend; 11. Retain continuing jurisdiction over this matter for the purposes of enforcing the relief awarded; 12. Declare Plaintiffs are the prevailing party and award them all costs and attorney's fees to which they are entitled to pursuant to Civil Rule 79 and AS 09.06.010(c)(1); and 10. Award Plaintiffs such other and further relief as the Court deems just and equitable. Respectfully submitted this 27th day of October 2017. Attorneys for Plaintiffs Brad D. De Noble, ABA #9806009 De Noble Law Offices LLC 11517 Old Glenn Hwy, Suite 202 Eagle River, Alaska 99577 Andrew L. Welle, Pro Hac Vice Pending Oregon Bar #154466 Attorney at Law 1216 Lincoln Street Eugene, Oregon 97401 Complaint Page 95 of 95 Sinnok et al v. State of Alaska 3AN-17- CI Exhibit A Petition for Rulemakin PETITION of Youth Petitioners and Alaska Youth for Environmental Action to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation For the promulgation of a rule to ensure an effective emissions reduction trajectory that is based on best climate science and will achieve safe atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide by 2100. Brad De Noble De Noble Law Offices LLC 11517 Old Glenn Highway, Suite 202 Eagle River, Alaska 99577 T: (907) 694-4345 E-mail: bdenoble@alaska.net August 28, 2017 On Behalf of Petitioners Pursuant to AS §§ 44.62.220, Alaska youth, including Essau S_ Cade 1_ Macy Rae K�, Linnea I=, Jasmine )_, Nathan E_, Tasha 13�Summer �, Liszka �, Lila � Cecily �, Ananda= I_, Griffin Pam, Lexme D- and Solomon So, and Alaska Youth for Environmental Action, a project of the Alaska Center Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation (collectively, "Petitioners"), hereby petition the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation ("the Department") for the adoption of a regulation under the Department's authority and pursuant to its obligations under the Constitution of the State of Alaska, the Public Trust Doctrine, and statutes and regulations, to protect the rights and common welfare of present and future generations of Alaskans by implementing an enforceable, effective carbon dioxide ("CO2") and GHG reduction strategy that is based on the best climate science and is aimed at ensuring that Alaska does its part to restore the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million ("ppm") by 2100. Such a rule is necessary in order to ensure that the worst impacts of climate change and ocean acidification are avoided and do not cause fiuther catastrophic and irreversible harm to present and future generations of Alaskan youth. Substance of the regulation requested: Specifically, Petitioners request that -the Department promulgate the rule proposed below: *x� Proposed Rule PREAMBLE: Human activity, primarily from the combustion of fossil fuels, has increased the global concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Science informs us that the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations has already warmed the global climate system and acidified the oceans, causing significant adverse effects to human health, safety, and welfare and Earth's natural systems. Left unabated, global climate destabilization and ocean acidification will have long-term catastrophic effects on human systems and the habitability of Alaska and the nation. The best climate science indicates that the global concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere must be rapidly reduced to no more than 350 parts per million (ppm) to protect the climate system humans depend upon. If global CO2 emissions are reduced by at least 85% from 1990 levels by 2050, and continue to declinethereafter, and there is significant reforestation around the world, global atmospheric CO2 levels are likely to stabilize at 350 ppm by 2100 thus avoiding the most severe impacts of climate destabilization. These targets reflect the global average emissions reductions required to remedy our climate emergency without accounting for the differentiated and equitable responsibilities of individual states and their historic contribution to carbon pollution. The goal of this rule is to protect the rights of present and future generations of all Alaskans , including Alaska Natives, to a healthy atmosphere and stable climate system, and to safeguard their inheritance of the legacy and heritage of the State of Alaska. Specifically, this rule is intended to: (1) fulfill the State's Public Trust obligation to prevent waste and substantial impairment of trust resources (2) achieve Alaska's constitutional "principles that all persons have a natural right to life, liberty, [and] the pursuit of happiness.. _[and] that all persons are equal and entitled to equal rights, opportunities, and protection under the law;"' (3) realize Alaska's constitutional obligation "to secure and political, civil and religious liberty transmit to succeeding generations our heritage of conserve, improve, and protect [Al' "Z (4) to carry out the Department's statutory duty "to aska's] natural resources and environment and control water, land, and air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic and social well-being;" 3 and (5) to fulfill the Department's statutory duty to "manage the basic resources of water, land, and air to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations.s4 DEFINITIONS: 1. "Best Climate Science" means: a. the most current scientific knowledge and understanding from qualified climate system scientists on safe levels of atmospheric COZ and other greenhouse gases and their near -teen and long-term impacts; and b. the most current scientific knowledge and understanding from qualified climate system scientists as to the greenhouse gas emissions reductions and CO2 sequestration required to stabilize the climate system and preserve a habitable and safe climate system for future generations. 2. "Carbon Budget" means the total amount of COZ emissions that can be released over a specific time frame while ensuring a return to the maximum safe limit of 350 ppm of COZ by 2100, or a lower level as may be determined by the best climate science. 3. "CO2" means carbon dioxide. 4. "Consumption Emissions and Inventory" means a greenhouse gas inventory focused on all emissions associated with materials and services, including electricity and fuels, consumed in Alaska, including estimates of embedded emissions associated with the life cycle of such materials and services. These emissions are included regardless of whether they physically originate in Alaska. A consumption -based inventory uniquely counts out- of-state emissions associated with producing and transporting the products, services, and fuels consumed in Alaska. It also counts emissions associated with producing and transporting fuels that are used to generate electricity consumed in Alaska, 5. "Department" means the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. 6. "Greenhouse Gas" or "GHG" means any gas that has contributed to anthropogenic global warming, including but not limited to carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexaflouride. 7. "In -boundary Emissions and Inventory" means the greenhouse gas inventory focused on all emissions produced within the state and also includes emissions associated with the extraction, transportation, refinement, and combustion of fossil fuels extracted in Alaska, whether such transportation, refinement, or combustion occurs within or outside of the state. In -boundary emissions inventories exclude many of the emissions associated with materials and goods produced outside, and imported into, the state. ALASKA CONST, art, I, § 1. 2 ALASKA CoNsT. preamble. 'ALASKA STAT. ANN, § 46.03.010(a). 4 ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.03.010(b). 2 8. "MMTCO2" means million metric tons CO2. 9. "MMTCO2e" means million metric tons CO2-equivalent. 10. "PPM" means parts per million atmospheric concentration. EMISSION REDUCTIONS: 1. The Department shall regulate stationary and mobile sources of CO2 emissions and the extraction of fossil fuels within the State of Alaska to: a. Ensure that Alaska reduces its total in -boundary and consumption CO2 emissions to at least 85% below 1990 levels by 2050 in order for its emission reductions to be consistent with the global average emission reductions required to return global atmospheric CO2 to 350 ppm by the end of the century; b. Establish interim benchmarks requirements for minimum levels of emission reductions for at least the years 2020, 2030, and 2040 to guide progress toward the 2050 reduction requirement; c. Ensure that Alaska's in -boundary CO2 emissions are reduced by at least 8.5 Percent per year beginning in 2018; and d. Prepare a numerical statewide goal or "carbon budget," taking into account both in -boundary and consumption emissions, in order to meet the requirements of subsections (a) through (c) of this section so that Alaska may do its share in achieving 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere by the year 2100. CARBON ACCOUNTING AND INVENTORY: 2. The Department shall provide an accounting to Alaska citizens of its management of the atmospheric trust asset by publishing annual progress reports on statewide GHG emissions measured in both MMTCO2 and MMTCO2e. These reports must include an accounting and inventory for each and everysubstantial source of GHG emissions within Alaska, including, but not limited to: a. in -boundary emissions from the transportation, industrial, commercial, institutional, residential, electrical, agricultural, and waste sectors; and b. consumption emissions associated with Alaskans' consumption of goods, services, and materials imported into Alaska. Reports must be available to the public no later than January 31 of each year, beginning in the year 2018, with a lag time of no more than one year (i.e., the 2018 report should contain emissions data from 2017). CLIMATE ACTION PLAN: 3. Within six months of adoption of these regulations, the Department, with input from stakeholders, shall adopt a Climate Action Plan to meet the reduction requirements specified herein. The Department, with input from Action Plan as necessary to address any stakeholders, shall amend the Clirnate adjustments to the reduction requirements and interim benchmarks affected by revisions to these regulations within six months of such revisions. REVISIONS: 4. Two years after the effective date of these regulations, and every five years thereafter until 2050, the Department shall amend these regulations to adjust the reduction requirements and interim benchmarks as necessary to assure that the State is reducing its greenhouse gas emissions in a manner that is consistent with the best climate science, taking into account the State's equitable responsibility for staying within the global 350 ppm carbon budget. RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE ALASKA LEGISLATURE: 5. Promptly after the adoption of these regulations, the Department shall recommend to the Legislature the adoption of a statute requiring the emissions reductions, interim benchmarks, carbon accounting and inventory, and Climate Action Plan required hereby. Promptly after any amendment to the emissions reductions and interim benchmarks required hereby, the Department shall recommend to the Legislature amendments to such statute consistent with such regulatory amendments. *** Reasons for Petitioners Re uest: The requested regulation is necessary for the Department to fulfill its Public Trust, constitutional, statutory, and regulatory obligations to protect the rights of present and future generations of all Alaskans, including Alaska Natives, from the worst impacts Of catastrophic climate change. The reasons why Petitioners' proposed regulation is needed are more fully detailed in the Public Comments of Youth Petitioners filed by Petitioners concurrently with this petition ***and the Exhibits thereto***, These Comments, as well as all materials cited to and relied upon in this Petition for Rulemaking and in the Public Comments of Youth Petitioners, are hereby incorporated by reference into the official administrative record as though fully set forth herein. If the Department requires copies of these materials, please inform Petitioners. Otherwise, because all materials cited are publicly available, Petitioners assume that the materials are part of the official administrative record. ADEC— A_ u�tv: The Department is the designated trustee charged with implem State's policy to "conserve, improve, and protectits nral resources and environment and enting the atu control water, land, and air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state," AS § 46.03.010(a), "to improve and coordinate the. environmental plans, functions, powers, and programs of the state," AS § 46.03.010(b), and to "manage the basic resources of water, land, and air to the end that the state may full its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations." Id. (all emphasis added). The Alaska Legislature has explicitly granted the Department authority to "adopt regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter," including, without limitation, regulations for the "control, prevention, and abatement of air, water, Orland, or subsurface land pollution," and other regulations "for the implementation of the policy declared in AS § 46.03.010." AS § 46.03.020(10). Department with a clear mandate: the Department shall Moreover, under AS 44.46.020(a)(4), the Alaska Legislature has provided the " take actions that are necessary and Proper to further the policy declared in AS 46.03.010." The adoption and implementation of Petitioners' proposed regulation would furtlier each of the statements of policy declared in AS 46.03.010. Having been entrusted by the legislature as the principal state entity for protection of Alaska's natural heritage and legacy, and charged with the "primary responsibility for the adoption and enforcement of regulations setting standards for the prevention and abatement of all water, land, subsurface land, and air pollution, and other sources or potential sources Ofpollution of the environment," (AS 44.46.020(a)(2) (emphasis added)), the Department has both the authority and the duty to adopt Petitioners' proposed rule. The legislature has similarly tasked the Department with "primary responsibility for coordination and development of policies, programs, and planning related to the environment of the state and the various regions of the state." AS § 44.46.020(a)(1) (emphasis added)). In addition to its general authority and duties with respect to the protection of Alaska's natural resources and the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state, .the Alaska legislature has explicitly granted the Department authority to adopt regulations "establishing ambient air quality standards [and] emissions standards..." under the federal Clean Air Act, AS § 46.14.010(a), directing the Department to "adopt regulations to address substantive and procedural elements of the emission control permit program...." AS § 46.14.140(a). Similarly, the legislature has provided the Department with authority to "provide, by regulation, for the control of emissions from motor vehicles." AS § 46.14.510(a). Finally, consistent with its statutory mandate, the Department itself has publicly affirmed its duty to prevent further GHG-caused damage: "It's a DEC duty not only to react / mitigate, but to act to age to the eenhouse gases.,,' Adopting petit one soproposed rule control would allow the Deparment to fulfint caused bY ll this acknowledged duty. e See Presentation to Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission, ALASKA DEP'T OF E,NVTy CONSERVATION, 66 (Jan. 24, 2007), https://dec.alaska.gov/air/doc/aciaci.an07-lpg-c.pdf [hereinafter ADECPresentCo NS (emphasis in original) (As the basis for this duty, ADEC cites ALASKA $TAT. § 44.46.020(a)(3) ("promote and develop programs for the protection and control of the environment of the state") and ALASKA STAT. § 46.03.010 ("conserve, improve, and protect [Alaska's] natural resources and environment ... in order to enhance health, safety and welfare,,).). Public Comments of Youth Petitioners I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TABLE OF CONTENTS II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY III. THE PETITIONERS IV. THE RESPONDENTS V. LEGAL FRAMEWORK - THE PUBLIC TRUST DOCTRINE, THE ALASKA CONSITUTION, AND ALASKA STATUTES & REGULATIONS: THE DEPARTMENT HAS AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE A. The Department has an Obligation Pursuant to the Public Trust Doctrine to Protect Alaska's Public Trust Resources for Present and Future Beneficiaries B. The Department has a Constitutional Obligation to Protect Alaskans' Inherent and Inalienable Rights and Common Welfare C. The Department is Statutorily Obligated to Protect Alaska's Public Trust Resources by Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions VI. FACTUAL BACKGROUND — CLIMATE CHANGE AND ALASKA A. Science Unequivocally Shows that Anthropogenic Climate Change is Occurring and is Threatening the Stability of the Global Climate System 1 Climate Change is Caused by Human Activities 2 Global Temperature Increases 3 Precipitation, Storms, Wildfires, and Drought 4 Sea Level Rise 5 Glaciers, Sea Ice, and Permafrost 6 Ocean Acidification 7 Agricultural and Forest Losses 8 Human Health Impacts 9 National Security and Global Politics B. Climate Change is Already Occurring in the State of Alaska and Will Continue To Significantly Impact the State in the Future 1 Alaska is on the Front Lines and has Already Experienced Significant and Rapid Warming 2 Temperatures in Alaska are Projected to Increase 3 Biosphere Impacts: (a) Melting Sea Ice (b) Melting Glaciers (c) Thawing Permafrost 4 Ecosystem Impacts: (a) Wildfires and Beetles (b) Ocean Acidification (c) Wildlife (d) Vegetation 5 Human Health 6 Impacts on Alaska Native Communities (a) Living Along Water (b) Flooding and Erosion (c) Relocation i) Shismaref ii) Newtok iii) Kivalina (d) Food and Water Scarcity and Safety (e) Cultural Practices and Heritage Loss 7 Economic Impacts C. The Best Climate Science Provides a Prescription for Restoring the Atmosphere, Stabilizing the Climate System, and Protecting the Oceans from Acidification and Warming VII. DESPITE HAVING THE RESOURCES AND STRUCTURE IN PLACE, ALASKA HAS FAILED TO ADDRESS ITS EQUITABLE SHARE A CLIMATE CRISIS AND HAS INSTEAD EXACERBATED THE CROISF ISTHE . U.S. Senate Special Hearing on Climate Change, Fairbanks, 2001 B. State Legislature Creates ACIAC, State Assessment Begins, 2006 C. ADEC's Presentation: Warning, Duty to Act, Economically Viable Transition Plan 1 ADEC Warned Alaska Politicians of Climate Change Impacts Over Ten Years Ago 2 ADEC to ACIAC: ADEC has a Duty to Prevent GHG-caused Damage 3 ADEC to ACIAC: Climate Change Regulation is Economically Viable 4 ADEC to ACIAC: ADEC is Prepared to Promulgate GHG Laws 5 ACIAC's Findings and Recommendations D. Administrative Order No. 238 1 Advisory Groups' Official Recommendations 2 Since ACIAC and CCSC's Final Reports E. Alaska has the resources and structure to act XIII. CONCLUSION EXHIBITS E I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Alaska is on the frontlines of climate change. Anthropogenic climate change and ocean acidification are the greatest threats facing human civilization, and Alaska is already experiencing the increasingly severe impacts of these crises. Due to the Persistence of long-lived greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide ("CO2") the burdens of climate change will be borne most heavily by today's youth and by future generations. Given the urgency of the climate crisis, Alaskan youth from across the state have joined with Alaska Youth for Environmental Action, a project of the Alaska Center Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation (collectively, "Petitioners") to petition the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation ("ADEC" or the "Department") to adopt a rule to ensure that Alaska does its fair share to restore the climate system to a state stable enough to maintain their, and future generations', fundamental rights. Under the Public Trust Doctrine, and as an agency of the State of Alaska, ADEC holds Alaska's natural resources, including water, air, and wildlife, in trust for present and future generations of Alaskans. As trustee, ADEC has an obligation -to manage Public Trust resources "for the common good of the public as beneficiary. ,7 ADEC's duties as trustee include protecting the air and atmosphere from substantial impairments The framers of the Alaska Constitution "sought to enshrine in the state the constitutional principle that the resources of Alaska must be managed for the long -run benefit of the people as a whole — that is, the resources 5 See James Hansen et al., Assessing "Dangerous Climate Change ": Required Reduction of Carbon Emissions to Protect Young People, Future Generations and Nature, PLOS ONE 10 (2013), http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/j oumal.pone.0081648 [hereinafter Assessing "Dangerous Climate Change']. Baxley V. Stare, 958 P.2d 422, 434 (Alaska 1998) (public trust doctrine "provides that the State holds certain resources (such as wildlife, minerals, and water rights) in trust for public use, `and that the government owes a fiduciary duty to manage such resources for the common good of the public as beneficiary."' (quoting McDowell v. State, 785 P.2d 1, 16 n.9 (Alaska 1989)). 'See Kanuk ex rel. Kanuk v. State, Dept. of Natural Resources, 335 P.3d 1088, 1102 (Alaska Sept. 12, 2014) (Alaska Supreme Court noted that the "Alaska Legislature has already intimated that the State acts as trustee with regard to the air just as it does with regard to other natural resources;" and in n. 78, the Court further noted that the "legislature declared in AS 46.03.010(b) that it is "the policy of the state ... to develop and manage the basic resources of water, ]and, and air to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations." (Emphasis in original); ALA3KA STAT. 46.03.010(a) similarly provides that `[i]t is the policy of the state to conserve, improve, and protect its natural resources and environment and control water, land, and air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic and social well-being."). See also Juliana v. United States, 217 F.Supp.3d 1224, 1255 n. 10 (D. Or. 2016) (denying motions to dismiss atmospheric public trust claims in light of allegations of impairment of aquatic resources through atmospheric degradation, stating "[t]o be clear, today's opinion should not be taken to suggest that the atmosphere is not a public trust asset" and listing numerous authorities indicating existence of atmospheric public trust); Foster v. Wash. Dep't of Ecology, No. 14-2-25295-1 SEA, 2015 WL 7721362, slip. op. at 8 (Wash. Super. Ct. Nov. 19, 2015), https://statici.squarespace.com/static/571d] 09bO4426270152febe0/t/57607fe459827eb8741 a852c/1465941993492/ 15.11.19.Order FosterV.Ecology.pdf (finding that public trust duties extend to protection of the atmosphere by virtue of its connection to aquatic resources: "The navigable waters and the atmosphere are intertwined and to argue a separation of the two; or to argue that GHG emissions do not affect navigable waters is nonsensical"). of the state must be managed as a public trust."9 Under the Alaska Constitution, the State must utilize its resources "for maximum use consistent with the public interest" in conservation and preservation of fundamental rights.10 The Alaska Legislature also codified the Public Trust in the state's statutory code." The State has "responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations.s12 The legislature has provided ADEC with the clear mandate to act as trustee of Alaska's natural resources. Pursuant to the federal and Alaskan constitutions, ADEC is further obligated to manage the natural resources in its care, and upon which Petitioners rely, in a manner that does not deprive Petitioners of their fundamental rights to life, liberty, and property and in a manner that does not discriminate against Petitioners and other Alaska youth in favor of older generations and short-term interests. Despite these clear mandates, ADEC is failing in its responsibilities as trustee to protect the Public Trust resources on which Petitioners' lives and well-being rely. Rather than taking action to address the climate crisis, the State of Alaska, including ADEC, has actively exacerbated the climate crisis by permitting, authorizing, and incentivizing fossil fuel development, extraction, transportation, and combustion while failing to abate and reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions. Youth Petitioners are already experiencing climate change impacts with devastating effects on Alaska's Public Trust resources. These impacts threaten Petitioners' cultural identities, subsistence practices, personal security, and wellbeing as Alaskans. Between them, these IS youth Petitioners are experiencing a host of alarming impacts, including, but not limited to, loss of important glacier ecosystems; changing availability of subsistence resources like shellfish, caribou, and seal; ocean acidification; increasing health impacts, including asthma; more frequent and severe heatwaves and wildfires; loss of traditional knowledge due to the rapid change from environmental conditions experienced by previous generations; and an urgent need to relocate entire communities due to sea level rise, storm surges, and permafrost melt. These impacts are already severe, and are only predicted to intensify as the climate crisis worsens. It is increasingly urgent that the Department delay no longer and immediately fulfill its obligation to promulgate a rule to reduce the state's GHG emissions according to the best climate science. 9 Gordon S. Harrison, Alaska's Constitution: A Citizen's Guide, 129 (Alaska Legislative Affairs Agency, 5th ed. a012), available at http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/does/pdf/citizens_guide.pdf [Hereinafter A Citizen's Guide]. ALASKA CONST. art. VIE, § 1 (emphasis added); Harrison, A Citizen's Guide, supra note 9 at 131. (The meaning of the phrase `consistent with the public interest' is found elsewhere in [Article VTIII. For example, it means that the principles of conservation must govern resource management (Sections 2 and 4) [and] that everyone should be treated equally by management Hiles, particularly rules adopted in the interests of conservation that limit the access of some groups to certain resources (Sections 3, 15, 16 and 17).... The delegates wanted the state's resources developed, not plundered."). 1 Owsichek v. State, 763 P.2d 488, 495 (Alaska 1988) (public trust doctrine incorporated into Art. VM, Sec. 3 of Alaska Const. to "impose upon the state a trust duty to manage the fish, wildlife and water resources of the state for the benefit of all the people"); ALASKA CONST. art. VM, § 3 ("Wherever occurring in their natural state, fish, wildlife, and waters are reserved to the people for common use."). Harrison, A Citizen's Guide, supra note 9 at 129, 131; (The meaning of the phrase `consistent with the public interest' is found elsewhere in [Article VHU. For example, it means that the principles of conservation must govern resource management (Sections 2 and 4) [and] that everyone should be treated equally by management Hiles, particularly rules adopted in the interests of conservation that limit the access of some groups to certain resources (Sections 3, 15, 16 and 17). The delegates wanted the state's resources developed, not plundered."); ALASKA CONST. art. V1II, § 1 (emphasis added). 12 See ALASKA STAT. § 46.03.010(b). Government -requested, Alaska -specific, climate change assessments have been conducted for over 15 years - all of which indicate that Alaska's greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced to mitigate climate change - and ADEC long -ago went on record as having the authority and owing the duty to regulate Alaska's GHG emissions. Still, the State of Alaska has yet to adopt any policy aimed at addressing and alleviating the dangers climate change poses to Alaska's youth, its posterity, and the natural resources and environment on which their lives depend. The best climate science,13 upon which Petitioners' base their rule, indicates that global atmospheric CO2 concentrations must be reduced to 350 ppm by century's end in order to avoid the most catastrophic and irreversible impacts of climate change and ocean acidification.14 If global CO2 emissions are reduced by at least 85% from 1990 levels by 2050, and continue to decline thereafter, and there is significant reforestation around the world (approximately 100 g[gatons of carbon drawdown must happen through reforestation), global atrnospheric COZ levels are likely to stabilize at 350 ppm by 2100.15 In order to meet this target, COZ emissions must level reduced globally by an adequate marbe gin each year." As of 2018, at least an 8.5% reduction in emissions from Alaska, and the rest of the world, in conjunction with significant drawdown of atmospheric CO2 concentrations through reforestation and other sequestration methods, would be necessary to stabilize the atmospheric concentration of CO2 th 350 ppm by n me0.1 thods These targets reflect the global average emissions reductions required to remedy our climate emergency without accounting for the differentiated and equitable responsibilities of individual states, like Alaska, and their historic contribution to carbon pollution. The U.S. is responsible for the largest -largest share of current emissions, and the global share of historic COZ emissions, the second largest per capita share of current emissions. Alaska per capita emissions, in turn, are among the very highest in the country. As such, when equitable consideration is given t Alaska's historic and ongoing contribution to the current climate crisis relative to other states and countries, a requirement that Alaska reduce its emissions by the standard applicable on a global scale without regard to its historic responsibility is not unfair to Alaska. By taking affirmative actions that allow GHG emissions to continue at dangerous levels, such as permitting and authorizing fossil fuel development, extraction, transportation, and combustion, and by failing to take sufficient action to ensure public safety in the face of 3 Petitioners incorporate by reference into the official administrative record all materials cited to and relied upon in these Comments. If the Department requires copies of these materials, please inform Petitioners. Otherwise, because all materials cited are publically available, Petitioners assume that the materials are part of the official administrative record. "Assessing "Dangerous Climate Change "supra note 6, at 1, 5, 10, 17-18; James Hansen et al., Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms; Evidence from paleoclimate Data, Climate Modeling, and Modern Observations that 2 °C Global Warming Could be Dangerous, 16 Armos. CHEM. & PHYS. 3761, 3801 (2016) https://www.abnos-chem- ghys net/16/3761/2016/acp-16-3761-2016.pdf [hereinafter Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms]. s Assessing `Dangerous Climate Change," supra note 6; Declaration of Dr. James E. Hansen in Support of Our Children's Trust et. al.'s "Submission to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child Regarding States Obligations, Children's Rights, and Climate Change" ¶ 68 (August 19, 2016) https://staticl.squarespace.com/static/57 I dl09b04426270152febe0/t/576195822fe1316109d2ed89/1466013077359/1 5.08.12.HansenExpertDecSupportingYouth.pdf [Hereinafter Hansen 2016 Declaration], 16 Assessing "Dangerous Climate Change, "supra note 6, at 1, 5110, 17-18. 1' Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at 168. dangerous climatic changes, the state, including ADEC, is violating its governmental duties to ensure public safety and welfare, safeguard Public Trust resources, and protect Petitioners' fundamental constitutional rights. The people of Alaska, especially its youth, including Petitioners, and future generations, cannot wait any longer for the state to take action to protect their rights. 11. PROCEDURAL HISTORY In May 2011, six Alaskan youth, including youth Petitioner Ananda- 1�, filed suit against the State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources, seeking declaratory and equitable relief 18 The youth plaintiffs alleged they had been personally harmed by the impacts of climate change and asserted the State of Alaska breached its Public Trust duties under Article VIII of the Alaska Constitution by failing to "protect the atmosphere from the effects of climate change and secure a future for Plaintiffs and Alaska's children: ' 19 Youth plaintiffs sought a declaratory holding that the atmosphere is a Public Trust resource that the state has an affirmative fiduciary duty to protect and preserve and that the state failed to fulfill its Public Trust Duties with respect to the atmosphere.20 Additionally, youth plaintiffs sought equitable relief in the form of a court order directing the state to "reduce carbon dioxide emissions from Alaska by at least 6% per year from 2013 through at least 2050" and to "prepare a full and accurate accounting of Alaska's current carbon dioxide emissions and to do so annually thereafter."21 After finding that the youth plaintiffs had standing and that the State of Alaska's sovereign immunity did not bar their claims,22 the Alaska Supreme Court recognized the constitutional nature of the Public Trust Doctrine23 and noted that "the Alaska Legislature has already intimated that the State acts as trustee with -regard to the air as it does with regard to other natural resources.s24 The Court found that the existence of Alaska's atmospheric Public Trust is indicated by the text of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation's organic statute, noting that "it is `the policy of the state ... to develop and manage the basic resources of water, land, and air to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations.1"25 Ultimately, however, the Court ruled that youth plaintiffs' claims for equitable relief requesting a court -ordered emissions reduction strategy presented non justiciable political questions involving "science- and policy -based "Kanuk ex rel. Kanuk v. State, Dept. of Natural Resources, 335 P.3d 1088, 1091 (Alaska Sept. 12, 2014). 19Id. 20 Id. 21 Id. (The 6% annual emissions reductions figure requested by youth plaintiffs in Kanuk ex rel. Kanuk represented the emissions reductions then necessary, according to the best climate science, to avoid the worst and most catastrophic impacts of climate change had an effective emissions reduction strategy been implemented in 2013. The requisite annual rate of emissions reductions rate increases every year effective action to address climate change is not taken. Therefore, Petitioners' requested annual rate of emissions reductions for a strategy implemented in 2018 is greater than that requested by youth plaintiffs in Kanuk ex rel Kanuk. If Alaska delays implementation of this rule, the annual rate of reductions will need to be further increased accordingto the best climate science.) 22Id. at 1092-96. 23 Id, at 1099 ("That we interpret the public trust doctrine in a constitutional context is well established.") 24Id. at 1102. 2s Id. at 1102 n. 78 (emphasis in original) (quoting AS § 46.03.010(b)). El inquiry... better reserved for executive -branch agencies or the legislature." 26 The court noted that these "underlying policy choices are not [the judiciary's] to make in the first instance."27 In keeping with the pronouncements of the Alaska Supreme Court as to the proper governmental body to decide issues of climate change policy "in the first instance," youth Petitioners now bring their Petition for adoption of regulations before the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, the executive branch agency charged with "primary responsibility for the adoption and enforcement of regulations setting standards for the prevention and abatement of all water, land, subsurface land, and air pollution, and other sources or potential sources of pollution of the environment "2s M. THE PETITIONERS This petition is brought by 15 Alaskan youth who reside in 12 communities across the state, ranging in age from 5 to 21 years old. Each petitioner is already experiencing the alarming and substantial impacts of a changing climate resulting from increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. Between them, these 15 youth Petitioners are experiencing a host of alarming impacts, including, but not limited to, loss of important glacier ecosystems; changing availability of subsistence resources like shellfish, caribou, and seal; ocean acidification; increasing health impacts, including asthma; more frequent and severe heatwaves and wildfires; loss of traditional knowledge due to the rapid change from environmental conditions experienced by previous generations; and an urgent need to relocate entire communities due to sea level rise, storm surges, and permafrost melt. These impacts are already severe, and are only predicted to intensify if no meaningful action is taken to reduce CO2 emissions. Youth Petitioners include: Esau S_, Age 20, Shishmaref Macy Rae K-, Age 21, Kotzebue Lila S�, Age 5, Homer Liszka B_, Age 17, Anchorage Summer S�, Age 16, Unalakleet Nathan B_, Age 17, Fairbanks Lexine D-, Age 8, Fairbanks Solomon Ste, Age 15, Kivalina Tasha F�, Age 18, Juneau Cecily S�, Age 7, Homer Cade 1=, Age 18, Dutch Harbor Jasmine 1_, Age 17, Petersburg Linnea I_, Age 14, Gustavus Griffin Pam, Age 20, Seward Ananda- I_ Age 7, Anchorage ze Id. at 1099. 27 Id. at 1098 (emphasis added). 2s ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 44.46.020(a)(2) (emphasis added). These youth petitioners are joined in their rulemaking request by the organization Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA), a project of the Alaska Center Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. AYEA's members are a dedicated group of youth committed to training and supporting youth -led environmental, community action projects and campaigns. AYEA seeks to develop a network of young Alaskan leaders, provide opportunities for those leaders to gain the skills and knowledge needed to be effective advocates, and then provide support for youth -driven campaigns. Since 1999, AYEA members have advocated for a safer, cleaner environment for all Alaskans. AYEA has been a consistent voice calling for meaningful action on climate change for over a decade. In 2005, AYEA teens gathered to learn more about the climate change impacts youth experience throughout the state, and wrote a "Letter to our Leaders" demanding that Alaska reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and promote more renewable energy in the state. This letter developed into a youth petition signed by 5,000 Alaskan youth and 150 villages and the 2005 petition, AYEA continued to promote solutions for cities throughout Alaska. Following the increasing impacts of climate change on Alaskan youth, and in 2006 launched the "3-2-1 Efficiency" campaign encouraging Alaskan households to do their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In 2008 AYEA teens recognized that, "as global warming threatens our way of life, landfill space becomes decreasingly available" and implemented a campaign to minimize waste, particularly plastic bags. 2009-2010 marked AYEA's Renewable Energy Campaign where youth lobbied for a $50 million appropriation by the State of Alaska for renewable energy development. AYEA's work continues to have a climate focus. Since 2014, sixteen AYEA members, including four Petitioners, have become Arctic Youth Ambassadors. AYEA's efforts since 2015 have been targeted at creating meaningful climate change action. In 2015, AYEA members supported the President's Clean Power Plan for the nation, encouraging Alaska to follow the initiative by reducing carbon emissions 30% by 2030. AYEA teens collected over 1,300 petitions in support of emissions reductions, and engaged in climate advocacy with the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and state legislators. Petitioners now call upon ADEC to fulfill its Public Trust, constitutional, statutory, and regulatory duties by adopting the proposed rule. IV. THE RESPONDENT'S In 1971, the Alaska Legislature formed the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation ("ADEC" or "the Department"). The legislature set out the Department's mission in its organic statute as follows: ,to conserve, protect and improve Alaska's natural resources and environment and control water, land and air pollution in order to enhance the health, safety and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic and social well-being.s29 The Department's organic statute also specifies that the Department effectuate the state's policy to 29 DEC History, ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER, available at http://dec.alaska.gov/commish/dec-history htm; ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.03.010(a). "manage the basic resources of water, land, and air to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations.s30 The Department has "primary responsibility for the adoption and enforcement of regulations setting standards for the prevention and abatement of all water, land, subsurface land, and air pollution, and other sources or potential sources of pollution of the environment, including by way of example only, petroleum and natural gas pipelines. ,31 The legislature has similarly tasked the Department with "primary responsibility for coordination and development Of policies, programs, and planning related to the environment of the state and the various regions of 'the state.02 The Department must "take actions necessary and proper to further" the conservation, public health, and public trust purposes for which it was formed33 by utilizing its authority to issue regulations prov 3ding for "control, prevention, and abatement of air, water, or land or subsurface land pollution. In fulfilling the mandate of these provisions, the nses and permits; Department: makes recommendations to the Alaska Legislature; issues lice initiates enforcement actions; serves as the primary link to the federal government on environmental issues; establishes ambient air quality standards, emission standards, and other regulatory standards; formulates and revises a statewide environmental plan; and works with the public, other state agencies, and legislators to implement environmental laws .35 The Department is responsible for issuing regulations to carry out its mandates.36 Importantly, the Department has significant control over and responsibility for Alaska's GHG emissions due to the agency's affirmative acts of permitting and licensing facilities and activities that emit or result in GHG emissions. For example, the Department issues regulations, permits, and licenses for internal combustion engines, fossil fuel burning facilities and equipment (including power plants), asphalt plants, coal-fired plants, and other stationary and area sources, all of which emit GHGs.37 V. LEGAL FRAMEWORK: THE PUBLIC TRUST DOCTRINE, ALASKA CONSITUTION, AND ALASKA STATUTES & REGULATIONS: THE DEPARTMENT HAS THE AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE A. The State of Alaska Has an Obligation Pursuant to the Public Trust Doctrine to Protect or Present and Future Beneficiaries Alaska's Public Trust Resources f The State of Alaska, including the Department of Environmental Conservation, has an obligation pursuant to the Public Trust Doctrine to manage and protect its natural resources for 90 ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.03.010(b). 3' ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 44.46.020(a)(2). 32 ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 44.46.020(a)(1). 33 ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 44.46.020(a)(4). 34 ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.03.020(10). 31 See Handbook on Alaska State Government, STATE OF ALASKA LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS AGENCY 36-69, http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/docslpdf/handbook.pdf; see also ALASKA STAT. ANN. §§ 46.03.020, 46.03.040, 46.14.010, 36 46.14.140, 46.14.510; 18 AAC §§ 50.005 et seq.; 52.005 et seq., 53.005 et seq. 37 See ALASKA STAT. ANN. §§ 46.03.020(10), 44.46.020(a)(2), 46.14.010, 46.14.140, 46.14.510 (West 2016). See ALASKA STAT. ANN. Title 46, Chapter 46, Subchapter 14. current and future Alaskans. The idea that essential natural resources are the collective property Of humanity was first documented almost 1500 years ago in Roman law. The text of the Institutes of Justinian declared that, "By the laws of nature, these things are common to mankind the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea. ,38 This ancient Pronouncement evidences the foundational aspect of the Public Trust Doctrine: the fundamental governmental principle that the sovereign (i.e., the state) holds shared resources —the jus publicum—in trust for present and future generations.39 A 1965 White House report articulated the public trust doctrine and stated: "The land, water, air and living things of the United States are a heritage of the whole nation. They need to be protected for the benefit of all Americans, both now and in the future." Trustees have an obligation that they cannot abdicate" to preserve and maintain trust assets for both presentandfuture beneficiaries of the trust and to prevent the substantial impairment of trust resources. State constitutions through the United States, including Alaska's constitution, enshrine the Public Trust Doctrine in constitutional provisions. III PPL Montana, LLC v. Montana, the United States Supreme Court recognized that the Public Trust Doctrine "is of ancient origin" dating back to Roman civil law, that the Public Trust Doctrine is reflected in state laws and constitutional provisions throughout our nation; and that federalist principles of our nation affirm the state's rights and duties over public trust resources within their borders 42 The universal constitutional application of the Public Trust Doctrine is evident in that citizens' rights to essential natural resources reflect "`inherent and independent rights' atmankind relative to the environment. The architects of Alaska's Constitution recognized these fundamental rights, and enshrined the Public Trust Doctrine in numerous provisions of the state's foundational legal document.44 However, because the Public Trust Doctrine is an inherent attribute of sovereignty45 31 Justinian, Institutes, 1.2.1, 2.1.1 (T. Sandars trans. 1st Am. ed. n. 1876). The Institutes of Justinian is one of three fundamental works of jurisprudence issued from 533 to 534 AD by order of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinianthree I. Collectively, the works were intended to be the sole source of Roman law. Roman law provides the error foundation for our own Western legal tradition. See John W. Head, Codes, Cultures, Chaos, And Champions: Common Features of Legal Codification Experiences in China, Europe, and North America, 13 DUKE J. COW. & INT'L L. 1 39 (2003). See, e.g., Baxley v. State, 958 P.2d 434 (public trust doctrine "provides that the State holds certain resources (such as wildlife, minerals, and water rights) in trust for public use, `and that the government owes a fiduciary duty to manage such resources for the common good of the public as beneficiary. "' (quoting McDowell v. State, 785 P.2d 1, 16 n.9 (Alaska 1989)). 4a Illinois Central R.R. Co. v. Illinois, 146 U.S. 387, 453 (1892) ("The state can no more abdicate its trust over property in which the whole people are interested ... than it can abdicate its police powers in the administration of government and the preservation of the peace."). i Mary C. Wood, Atmospheric Trust Litigation Across the World, in FIDUCIARY DUTY AND THE ATMosPHERIC TRUST 106, 109 n. 59 (Ken Coghill, Charles Sampford & Tim Smith, eds., 2012) (internal citations omitte available at https://law.uoregon.edu/images/uploads/entries/ATL-Across-the-World.pdf). d) Z PPL Montana, LLC v. Montana, 132 S. Ct 1215, 1235-36 (2012). 43 Robinson Twp. v. Commonwealth, 83 A.3d 901, 947 (Pa. 2013) (plurality opinion). 44 A Citizen's Guide, supra note 9, at 129 ("Thus, the convention delegates sought to enshrine in the state constitution the principle that the resources of Alaska must be managed for the long -run benefit of the people as a whole — that is, the resources of the state must be managed as a public trust 45lldby t Central y R.virtue Co., Of U.S. re 455-56 ("(Tlhe decisions are numerous which declare that such property is held by the state, by virtue of its sovereignty, in trust for the public."); Juliana, 217 F.Supp.3d at 1260 ("The public trust doctrine defines inherent aspects of sovereignty.,,). predating "all governments and constitutions,"46 its obligations and the rights it affords citizens need not be explicitly mentioned in text to be of constitutional force47 That Alaska's constitutional delegates chose to expressly include Public Trust provisions emphasizes the importance of the Public Trust Doctrine to the state of Alaska and its citizen beneficiaries. The Alaska Supreme Court recognized the Public Trust Doctrine in a 1988 case in which it was called upon to determine whether a state conveyance of tideland was subject to the public's continuing easement for purposes of navigation, commerce, and fishing.48 In determining whether the conveyance passed free of any Public Trust obligations, the Court first had to determine "whether the conveyance was made in furtherance of some specific trust purpose and second, whether the conveyance can be made without substantial impairment of the public's interest in the state tidelands.i4 Later that same year, the Supreme Court addressed whether granting hunting guides exclusive guide areas violated the common use clause set forth in Article VIll, Section 3 of the Alaska Constitution.50 Examining the history of the clause, the Court stated that the framers intended "to guarantee broad public access to natural resources."5t The Court relied upon historic principles concerning a sovereign's management of water and wildlife resources, and found that the framers achieved their purpose by "constitutionalizing common law principles imposing upon the state a public trust duty with regard to the management of fish, wildlife and water ...for the benefit of all the people.i5 Indeed, the framers of Alaska's Constitution intended that all "the resources of Alaska must be managed in the long - run for the benefit of the people as a whole — that is, the resources of the state must be managed as a public trust.s53 In Baxley v. State, the Alaska Supreme Court directly addressed the nature and purpose of the Public Trust Doctrine, explaining that the Public Trust Doctrine "provides that the State holds certain resources (such as wildlife, minerals, and water rights) in trust for public use, `and that the government owes a fiduciary duty to manage such resources for the common good of the public as benefiiciary.si54 Most recently, the Alaska Supreme Court indicated, while discussing the Public Trust Doctrine, that "the State acts as trustee with regard to the air just as it does with regard to other natural resources. ,55 46 Oposa v. Factoran, G.R. No. 101083 (S.C. July 30, 1993) (Phil.). d7 See id. ("[Tlhese basic rights need not even be written in the Constitution for they are assumed to exist from the inception of humankind."); Juliana, 217 F.Supp.3d at 1260 ("[Pjublic trust rights both predated the Constitution and are secured by it."); Robinson Twp. v.. Commonwealth, 83 A.3d at 947-48 (Rights and duties provided under the Public Trust Doctrine "are inherent in man's nature and preserved rather than created by the Pennsylvania Constitution."); See also, Mehta Y. Nath, (1996) 10 Suppl. S.C.R. 12 (Lydia) (Declaring the basis of the public trust doctrine as laying in natural law and stating that "the laws of nature... are imposed by us by the natural world" and must "inform all our social institutions."). 4s CWS Fisheries, Inc. v. Bunker, 755 P.2d 1115, 1118 Alaska 1988), 49Id. at 1119 so See Owsichek v. State, 763 P.2d at 488 (Alaska 1988). s' Id. at 493. sz Id. at 493, 495. 57 Harrison, A Citizen's Guide, supra note 9, at 129. 54 958 P.2d at 434 (quoting McDowell v. State, 785 P.2d 1, 16 n.9 (Alaska 1989)). ss Kanuk ex rel. Kanuk v. State, 335 P.3d at 1102 (Alaska Supreme Court noted that the "Alaska Legislature has already intimated that the State acts as trustee with regard to the air just as it does with regard to other natural resources;" and in n. 78, the Court further noted that the "legislature declared in AS 46.03.010(b) that n is "the policy ofthe state ... to develop and manage the basic resources of water, land, and air to the end that the state may The State of Alaska has an affirmative and mandatory duty under the Public Trust Doctrine to prevent, and to refrain from contributing to, substantial impairment to the State's essential natural resources, including the atmosphere (air), oceans, beaches, freshwaters of the State, fish, wildlife, and forests — each of which are seriously impacted by climate change. 56 The public's right to essential natural resources reflects their inherent rights that are preserved by the state57 and federal constitutions.-8 As the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in Robinson Township, the Public Trust Doctrine requires governments to "conserve and maintain" natural resources, and imposes the duty "to refrain from permitting or encouraging the degradation, diminution, or depletion of public natural resource's, whether such degradation, diminution, or depletion would occur through direct state action or indirectly, e.g., because of the state's failure to restrain the actions of private parties.i59 Governments also have the duty "to act affirmatively to protect the environment" via legislative or regulatory action.60 Recognizing that "[i]t is the policy of the state to ... manage the basic resources of water, land, and air to the end that the state many fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations," the Alaska Legislature codified the state's role as trustee of atmospheric resources under the Public Trust Doctrine and created the Department of Environmental Conservation to fulfill its Public Trust duty to protect trust resources for present and future generations.62 The Department must now fully implement both the letter and the spirit of the laws in such a manner as to do its part to protect Alaska citizens from catastrophic climate change. As a Washington State court recently stated: "Mederal mechanisms designed to protect the environment are now under siege, more than ever leaving to the States the obligation to protect their citizens under the Public Trust Doctrine."63 If the Department, as trustee of the atmosphere, does not take immediate and extraordinary action to do its part s connection with a global effort to protect preserve, and bring the Earth's atmosphere back into balance, then children in Alaska, Alaska Natives, and countless future generations of children will suffer continually greater injuries and damaging consequences. Failure to act in these circumstances fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations.") (Emphasis in ori6I�d.; See also Geer v. Connecticut, 161 U.S. 519, 534 (1896) ("Mt is the duty of the [state] to enact such laws as will best preserve the subject of the trust and secure its beneficial use in the future to the people of the State."), partially overruled ors other grounds by Hughes v. Oklahoma, 441 U.S. 322 (1979); City of Milwaukee v. Staae, 214 N.W. 820, 830 (Wis. 1927) ("The trust reposed in the state is not a passive trust; it is governmental, active, and administrative ... [and] requires the lawmaking body to actin all cases where action is necessary, not only to preserve the trust, but to promote it "); Juliana v. Unfired States, 217 F.Supp.3d 1224, 1254 (D. Or. 2016) ("The government, as trustee, has a fiduciary duty to protect the trust assets from damage so that current and future trust beneficiaries will be able to enjoy the benefits of the trust.") . "See ALASKA CoNST., Preamble, Art. I §§ 1, 7, Art. VIII. ss See Juliana, 217 F.Supp.3d at 1261 ("Public Trust claims rest "directly on the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.,,) (citations and quotations omitted . S9 83 A.3d at 957. ) so Id. at 958. 61 ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.03.010(b). ez Id.; see also ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.03.010(a). 63 Foster v. Wash. Dept of Ecology, No. 14-2-25295-1, slip. op. at 4 (Wash. King Cty. Super. Ct., April 18, 2017), https://staticl.squarespace.com/static/57ld1n9hnne,)AIIm<o*t_,,11,, _—-- _ 10 constitutes a breach of the state's fiduciary duty to protect the atmospheric trust asset for the benefit of current and future Alaskans. The public trust imposes a legal obligation on the Department to affirmatively preserve and protect the citizens' trust assets from damage or loss, and not to use, waste or dispose of the asset in a manner that causes injury to the trust beneficiaries, be they present or future. Alaska's fiduciary duty in this instance is defined by scientists' concrete prescriptions for CO2 reductions. The current level of CO2 in the atmosphere, over 400 ppm, constitutes substantial impairment of the atmosphere, the ocean, and the climate system.64 Additionally, this level of CO2 in the atmosphere is causing the substantial impairment of other trust resources including Alaska's coastal waters and marine life, Alaska's freshwaters and permafrost, as well as Alaska's fish, wildlife, and forests.G5 Scientists have clearly expressed the minimum CO2 reductions that are needed and requisite timelines for their implementation.66 Alaska may not disclaim this fiduciary obligation, and is subject to an ongoing mandatory duty to preserve and protect the atmosphere and other trust assets. B. The Department has a Constitutional Obligation to Protect Alaskans' Inherent and Inalienable Rights and Common Welfare Article I, Section 1 of the Alaska Constitution, titled Inherent Rights, recognizes that "all persons have a natural right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the enjoyment of the rewards of their own industry; [and] that all persons are equal and entitled to equal rights, opportunities, and protection under the law.s67 ,No person shall be deprived" of such inherent rights "without due process of law.s68 By enumerating these inherent rights, the framers of the Alaska Constitution clarified their purpose to transmit and protect liberty and Alaska's heritage to "succeeding generations."69 Article VIII, Section 2 states: "The legislature shall provide for the utilization, development, and conservation of all natural resources belonging to the State, including land and waters, for the maximum benefit of its people.s70 Article VIII, Section i likewise calls for resource development that is "consistent with the public interest,"71 meaning that "the principles of conservation must govern resource management... [and] that everyone should be treated equally by [natural resource] management rules ...... 72 Section 4 of Article VIII also mandates that all "replenishable resources belonging to the State shall be utilized, ' Dec. of Dr. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg In Support of Foster v. Wash. Dept ofEcology, No. 14-2-25295-1 SEA, at 1,(Wash Sup. Ct. Aug. 24, 2015), https://static I.squarespace.com/static/571 d l09bO4426270152febeo/t/59aOe23dd482e9c868986767/1503715905156/ 15.08.25+Hoegh-GuldbergDecl.pdf; Foster v. Wash Dept afFcology, No. 14-2-25295-1 SEA, 2015 WL 7721362, 8 (Wash. Super. Ct. Nov. 19, 2015), https://static i .squarespace.com/static/57l dl O9bO4426270152febe0/t/57607fc459827eb874l a852c/1465941993492/ 15.11.19.Order FosterV.Ecology.pdf.; Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15 See Infra § F2. 66 See, e.g., Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15 67 ALASKA CONST. art. I, § 1. 68 ALASKA CONST. art. 1, § 7. 69 ALASKA CONST., preamble. 70 ALASKA CONST. art. VIII, § 2. 7' ALASKA CONST. art. VIII, § 1. "Harrison, A Citizen's Guide, supra note 9, at 131. 11 developed, and maintained on the sustained yield principle, subject to preferences among beneficial uses. 73 Further, as Professor Gordon S. Harrison explains, Article VM of Alaska's Constitution expressly recognizes the state's Public Trust Obligations: "Thus, the convention delegates sought to enshrine in the state constitution the principle that the resources of Alaska must be managed for the long -run benefit of the people as a whole — that is, the resources of the state must be managed as a public trust i74 There is no natural resource of more importance to the public, and succeeding generations, or more reliant on sustainable practices, than a healthy atmosphere and stable climate system. A healthy atmosphere and stable climate system are required in order to enjoy and defend life, liberty, property, safety, happiness, and all other fundamental and inherent rights. The Alaska Constitution expressly recognizes the fundamental principle that governments are founded by the people for the benefit of the people.75 The most central and basic benefit that a government can provide is to protect those essential natural resources necessary for its people to survive and thrive and for society to function, evolve, and reproduce for future generations. As the District Court of Oregon recently declared in Juliana v. United States — a federal, youth -led, constitutional and Public Trust case— inherent rights to life, liberty, and property rest upon the foundational, and likewise inherent right to "a climate system capable of sustaining human life" — a right that is "fundamental to a free and ordered society.i76 As the Juliana court stated: "Just as marriage is the `foundation of the family,' a stable climate system is quite literally the foundation `of society, without which there would be neither civilization nor progress."i77 In another youth -led climate case, a Washington state court captured the urgent need of protecting these inherent rights, stating: "[i]f ever there were a time to recognize throu$glt action this right to preservation of a healthful and pleasant atmosphere, the time is now ... "7 That court also noted that the youth petitioners "very survival depends upon the will of their elders to act now, decisively and unequivocally, to stem the tide of global warming by accelerating the reduction of emission of GHG's ....s79 Constitutionally, the sState of Alaska has a "fundamental governmental duty to ensure public safety and welfare. Contrary to that duty, and in contravention to Petitioners' due process rights, the state's actions in licensing and permitting GHG emissions -producing facilities and activities, and the state's direct participation in GHG emissions -producing activities, contributes to climate change and ocean acidification, affirmatively harming Alaska's citizens. Likewise; the state's failure to adequately respond to the threat of climate change threatens 7' ALASKA CONST. art. VM, § 4. 74 Harrison, A Citizen's Guide, supra note 9, at 129. 75 ALASKA CONST. art, I, § 2 ("All political power is inherent in the people. All government originates with the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the people as a whole."), s Juliana, 217 F.Supp.3d at 1250. 77Id. (quoting Obergefell V. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584, 2598 (2015) (quoting Maynard v. Hill, 125 U.S. 190,211 �1888))). s Foster v. Wash. Dept of Ecology, No. 14-2-25295-1 SEA, 2015 WL 7721362, slip. op at 9 (Wash. Super. Ct. Nov. 19, 2015), htips://staticl.squarespace.com/static/57ldl09b04426270152febe0ff157607fe459827eb8741 as 52c/1465941993492/ 15.11.19.0rder FosterV.Ecologypdf 79 id. at 5. 80 Myers v. Alaska Housing Finance Corp., 68 P.3d 386,401 (Alaska 2003). 12 public safety and welfare. For instance, an increasingly destabilized climate system brings more frequent and intense storms; temperature extremes; wildfires; severe coastal erosion and sea level rise; the loss of frozen tundra and permafrost on which many Alaska Native communities depend; the spread of pests, diseases, and allergens; and ocean acidification, among other impacts. Further, these actions and omissions unconstitutionally favor the short-term economic benefit of current generations at the expense of the youths' fundamental rights, discriminating against them in violation of Alaska's constitutional guarantee that "all persons are equal and entitled to equal rights, opportunities, and protection under the law.s81 The United States Constitution also informs the scope of Petitioners' individual fundamental rights and the Department's obligations with respect thereto. Under the terms of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a state may not deprive its citizens of life, liberty, or Property, without due process of law, nor deny them equal protection of the laws.82 These rights belong to present generations as well as to future generations (our "Posterity").83 These inherent and inalienable rights reflect the basic societal contract of the U.S. Constitution to protect citizens and posterity from government infringement upon basic freedoms and basic (or natural) rights. Our nation's climate system, including the atmosphere and oceans, is critical to Petitioners' rights to life, liberty, and property, yet the nation's climate system has been, and continues to be, harmed by dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, youth petitioners will be denied their constitutional rights to equal protection of the laws because they will disproportionately experience the irreversible and catastrophic impacts of an atmosphere and oceans containing dangerous levels of CO2 and a dangerous destabilized nationaclimate system. Today's adults will not experience the full scope of catastrophic harms that will experienced by Youth Petitioners. In order to ensure that the U.S. and Alaskan Constitutional rights experienced and property, and equal protection of the laws, are Petitioners, and all Alaskans, to life, liberty, of not further infringed upon, Alaska must do its part to ensure that a balanced climate system is restored, and CO2 levels are reduced to no more than 350 ppm. Of course, rights guaranteed under U.S. Constitution as presently interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court represent a floor, not a ceiling to the rights established by the states, Alaskans have long benefited from a broader array of protection under the Alaska Constitution.84 Even when Alaska Constitutional provisions are closely akin to those of the Federal Constitution, the state has "a duty, to develop additional constitutional rights and privileges" fundamental to the "intention and spirit of [Alaska's] constitutional language and —necessary for the kind of s� ALASKA CONST. art. I, § I. U.S. CONST. amend. MV, § 1. 83 U.S. CONST. preamble (The framers established the constitution in order to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..."). 89 See, e.g., Ravin v. State, 537 P.2d 494, 513 (Alaska 1975) (J. Boochever, concurring); Malabed v. North Slope Borough, 70 P.3d 416, 420 (Alaska 2003) ("We have long recognized that the Alaska Constitution's equal protection clause affords greater protection to individual rights than the United States Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment"); Alaska Civil Liberties Union v. State, 122 P.3d 7ted States (Alaska 2utio 's Article I, section 1 of the Alaska Constitution "mandates `equal treatment of those similarly situated;' it protects Alaskans' right to non- discriminatory treatment more robustly than does the federal equal protection clause."). 13 civilized life and ordered liberty which is at the core of our constitutional heritage."85 Rather than "stand by idly and passively, waiting for constitutional direction from the highest court of the land," Alaska prides itself on "movin concurrently to develop and expound the principles embedded in [its] constitutional law." 6 Alaska, through its "equal protection clause," has done just that: it has guaranteed youth Petiti�oners "not only equal `protection,' but also equal `rights' and `opportunities' under the law. The impacts of climate change described below (see Section VI below) threaten the constitutional rights of all Alaskans, but especially those of Petitioners , who, as a result of current and future impacts of climate change, are not now — or in the future — able to enjoy rights and opportunities equal to those enjoyed by the rest of us. Indeed, without immediate science - based actions to reduce CO2 emissions, the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification will lead to a very different, far less hospitable planet. C. The Department is Statutorily Obligated to Protect Alaska's Public Trust Resources by Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions The essential purpose of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is to Protect Alaska's natural resources for the public's benefit. Specifically, the Alaska legislature formed the Department for the purposes set forth in the Department's organic statute. That statute makes clear that the Department's reason for being is to: (1) "conserve, improve, and protect [Alaska's] natural resources and environment and control water, land, and air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic and social well-being;". and (2) "manage the basic resources of water land, and air to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee for the present and future generations." 88 To these ends, the Alaska Legislature has tasked the Department with the authority and obligation to both "adopt regulations necessary to carry out" and "take actions necessary and proper to further" such purposes89 and designated the Department as the governmental entity with "primary responsibility for the adoption and enforcement of regulations setting standards for the prevention and abatement of all water, land, subsurface land, and air pollution, and other sources or potential sources of pollution of the environment ....s90 In addition to the.Department's general authority and mandate to issue and enforce regulations for the protection and conservation of Alaska's natural resources, including the atmosphere,91 the Alaska Legislature specifically authorized the Department to adopt regulations "establishing ambient air quality standards [and] emissions standards,"92 and "for the control of "Ravin, 537 P.2d at 513 (J. Boochever, concurring). 96Id. "Alaska Civil Liberties Union, 122 P.3d at 785. " ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.03.010 (emphasis added). "ALASKA STAT. ANN. §§ 46.03.020(l0), 46.46.020(a)(4). 9° ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 44.46.020(a)(2); See also ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 44.46.020(a)(1) (The Department has "Primary responsibility for coordination and development of policies, programs, and planning related to the environment of the state and of the various regions of the state."). 91 ALASKA STAT. ANN. §§ 46.03.020(10), 44.46.020(a)(2), 46.46.020(a)(4). n ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.14.010(a). 14 the emissions from motor vehicles,,,93 and directed the Department to "adopt regulations to address substantive and procedural elements of the emission control permit program...: ,94 Per the Air Quality and Control Chapter of Alaska's Administrative Code, the Department has a duty "to identify, prevent, abate, and control. air pollution in a manner that meets the purposes of AS 46.03, AS 46.14, and [the federal Clean Air Act] ....s95 The purposes of AS 46.03, as pertaining to the regulation of air pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions ("GHGs"), are: (1) "to conserve, improve, and protect [Alaska's] natural resources and environment and control ... air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic and social well-being;s96 and (2) "to improve and coordinate the environmental plans, functions, powers, and programs of the state, in cooperation with the federal government, regions, local governments, other public and private organizations, and concerned individuals, and to develop and manage the basic resourcefJ of...air to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for the present and future generations."97 AS 46.14 specifically authorizes the Department to set ambient air quality and emissions standards and regulate motor vehicle emissions, and directs the Department to regulate the control emission permit program.98 Both the Department's organic statute and the Air Quality and Control Chapter of Alaska's Administrative Code, adopted pursuant thereto, define "air pollution" as "the presence in the outdoor atmosphere of one or more air contaminants in quantities and duration that tend to be injurious to human health or welfare, animal or plant life or property or would unreasonably interfere with the enjoyment of life or property."99 As demonstrated in Section VI below, elevated levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are injurious to human, plant and animal life, and to property, such that the Department is statutorily obligated to regulate Alaska's.GHG emissions. Additionally, Alaska's definition is consistent with the defmition of "air pollutant" contained in the federal Clean Air Act.100 In Massachusetts v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that CO2 is an air pollutant covered by the Clean Air Act101 and the Department already has adopted federal standards governing GHG emissions from a number of sources.102 VI. FACTUAL BACKGROUND — CLIMATE CHANGE AND ALASKA ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.14.510(a). 94 ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.14.140(a). ss 18 AAC § 50.005. s5 ALASKA STAT. ANN. 46,03.010(a). ALASKA STAT. ANN. 46.03.010(b). 9s ALASKA STAT. ANN. §§ 46.14.010(a), 46.14.510(a), 46.14.140(a). " ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.03.900(2); 18 AAC § 50.990(5). 100 See 42 U.S.C.A. § 7602(g) ("The term `air pollutant' means any air pollution agent or combination of such agents, including any physical, chemical, biological, radioactive (including source material, special nuclear material, and byproduct material) substance or matter which is emitted into or otherwise enters the ambient air. Such term includes any precursors to the formation of any air pollutant, to the extent the Administrator has identified such precursor or precursors for the particular purpose for which the term `air pollutant' is used."). 549 U.S. 497, 534-35 (2007). 102 See, e.g., 18 AAC § 50.040(a)(2)(XX), (Yy). 15 Alaska's efforts to reduce GHG emissions have thus far been insufficient to adequately protect the interests of current and future citizens of Alaska. Numerous climate change studies have been commissioned and completed, but this is not sufficient to address Alaska's climate crisis. In order to avoid catastrophic climate change, the State's efforts need to be guided by a scientifically -prescribed goal of reducing GHG emissions sufficient for Alaska to do its part to return the atmospheric concentration of CO2 to 350 ppm by 2100. In its final 2007 report to the Alaska Legislature, the Alaska Climate Impacts Assessment Commission explicitly recognized Alaska's need for the best, most up-to-date science when assessing climate change mitigation tactics: "The Commission concluded that informed decision - making will need objective, reliable data, continued monitoring activities in the field and at sea, and the most up-to-date research we can acquire. What follows is the best, most objective, reliable data and up-to-date research regarding the science of climate change, its impacts, and the proscription to end it. This information necessitates adoption of Petitioners' proposed rule. A. The Science Unequivocally Shows that Anthropogenic Climate Change is Occurring, and is Threatening the Stability of the Global Climate System 1. Climate Change is Caused by Human Activities For over fifty years, the United States government has known that carbon dioxide pollution from burning fossil fuels Was causing global warming and dangerous climate change, and that continuing to burn fossil fuels would destabilize the climate system on which present and future generations of our nation depend for their wellbeing and survival."' In a 1965 Report of President Lyndon Johnson's Scientific Advisors, "Restoring the Quality of Our Environment," the President's Science Advisory Committee stated: "that "pollutants have altered on a global scale the carbon dioxide content of the air" through the "burning of coal, oil and natural gas.s104 The Executive Branch warned that "carbon dioxide [gases] are accumulating in such large quantities that they may eventually produce marked climatic change.„10s The 1965 Report confirmed .that anthropogenic pollutants, including CO2, threaten "the health, longevity, livelihood, recreation, cleanliness and happiness of citizens who have no direct stake in their production, but cannot escape their influence."106 The Executive Branch described the marked climatic changes from CO2 pollution as including the melting of the Antarctic icecap, rising sea levels, warming oceans, acidifying waters, and additional releasing of CO2 and methane due to these events.10 It recommended reducing the heating of the Earth because of the "extraordinary 103 President's Science Advisory Committee, Environmental Pollution Panel, Restoring the Quality of Our Environment (1965) ..... ..II..g....... J. 61�D�LVuoo.cuw ta051cataeiraiantualdetra/o20downloads/PSAC,%o201965,0/,20Restoring%20the%20 Quality%20of%2OOur/*2OEnvironment.pdf; see also T. C. Chamberlin, An Attempt to Frante a Working Hypothesis of the Cause of Glacial Periods on an Atmospheric Basis, I GEOLOGY 7, 575 (1899) (Scientists understood that COz concentrations in the atmosphere cause heat retention on Earth and that a doubling or tripling of the CO2 content in 1899 would significantly elevate Earth's surface temperature.). tO4Restoring the Quality of Our Environment, supra note 103,at 1, 9. ms Id. at 12 106 7d at 1. t0' Id at 123-24. lR economic and human importance" of our climate system.108 Since 1965, studies and reports also have made clear the significant harms that would be caused if we did not and do not reduce reliance on carbon -intense energy from fossil fuels and rapidly transition to carbon -free energy.109 Since 1990, the best available science has shown that CO2levels in the atmosphere must be stabilized at or below 350 ppm in order to protect our nation's climate system and that a swift transition away from fossil fuels was necessary.110 In December 1990, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agenc("EPA") submitted a report to Congress on "Policy Options for Stabilizing Global Climate." 11 The EPA's 1990 Report concluded: "responses to the greenhouse problem that are undertaken now will be felt for decades in the future, and lack of action now will similarly bequeath climate change to future generations."' 2 The 1990 Report called for stabilizing atmospheric CO2 concentrations at 350 ppm, the current level of that time. In its 1990 Report, EPA confirmed the Executive Branch's findings from 1965 that COZ was a "dangerous" pollutant. Twenty-five years later, today's best science confirms that 350 ppm is the maximum safe level of atmospheric CO2 required to restore a stable climate system. On October 15, 1992, the Senate ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ("UNFCCC" ).113 The UNFCCC was executed to "protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind."114 The UNFCCC evidences an "overwhelming weight" of support for p6rotection of the atmosphere under the norms and principles of intergenerational equity. ll The minimal objective of the UNFCCC is the "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner."116 P 08Id. at 127. 09Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ("IPCC"), IPCC Fifth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2013, 1.1, 123 (2013), htip://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wgl, [Hereinafter ARS]; James Hansen et. al., Young People's Burden: Requirement of Negative COr Emissions 8 EARTH SYSTEM DYNAMICS 577, July 18, 2017) [Hereinafter Young People's Burden] https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.05878.pdf. 110EPA, Policy Option for Stabilizing Global Climate: Report to Congress 1, 8, I-5, IV-19 (1990), https:/Ibooks.google.com/books?id=_YkTAAAAYAAJ&printsec=fronteover#v onepage&q&f false (last visited April 27, 2017). 11 Id. 71.Id. at III-15. 71. UNFCCC, Status ofRatification fication of the Convention, http:/Amfccc.intlessential_background/convention/status_of ratification/items/2631.php. ... UNFCC, First Steps to a Safer Future: Introducing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, http://unfccc.intfessentialbackground/convention/itetns/6036.php. 115 UNFCCC, Art. 3, _ http:Hunfccc.int/files/essential_background/background_publications_htmlpdflapplication/pdf/conveng.pdf. UNFCCC, Art. 2, http://unfece.int/files/essential_background/background_publications_htmlpdf/application/pdf/conveng.pdf 17 The United States Global Change Research Program ('USGCRP")"' has confirmed that anthropogenic global warming is occurring and is adversely impacting the Earth's climate. 118 The present rate of global heating is occurring as a result of human activities that release heat - trapping GHGs and intensify the Earth's natural greenhouse effect at an accelerated rate, thereby changing Earth's climate.l This abnormal climate change is unequivocally human-induced,120 is occurring now, and will continue to occur unless drastic measures are taken to curtail it. M Climate change is damaging both natural and human systems, and if unrestrained, will alter the planet's habitability.122 According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"), "the case for finding that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere endanger public health and welfare is compelling and, indeed, overwhelming."12 The EPA further stated in April 2009 that "the evidence points ineluctably to the conclusion greenhouse gas emissions, that that climate change is upon us as a result of climate changes are already occurring that harm our health and welfare, and that the effects will only worsen over time in the absence of regulatory action. 024 Human beings have benefited from living on a hospitable planet with conditions that are just right for human life to evolve, expand, and flourish.12 The Earth is a "Goldilocks" planet ""'The U.S. Global Change Research Program ("USGCRP") was established by Presidential Initiative in 1989 and mandated by Congress in the Global Change Research Act ("GCRA") of 1990 to "assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human -induced and natural processes of global change." The organizatiion's vision is to produce "[a] nation, globally engaged and guided by science, meeting the challenges of climate and global change." Their mission is "to build a knowledge base that informs human responses to climate and global change through coordinated and integrated Federal programs of research, education, communication, and descision support." About, GLOBALCHANGE.Gov, http://Www.globalchange.gov/about (last accessed Aug. 13, 2017). USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts in the United States: Third National Climate Assessment, 7 (2014) [hereinafter Climate Change Impacts], http://nca2Ol4.globalchange.gov/downloads ("Evidence for climate change abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans .... Evidence of climate change is also visible in the observed and measured changes in location and behavior of species and functioning of ecosystems. Taken together, this evidence tells an unambiguous story: the planet is warming, and over the last half century, this warming has been driven primarily by human activity.") Id. ("Multiple lines of independent evidence confirm that human activities are the primary cause of the global warming of the past 50 years."); Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors, Climate Change: Addressing the Major Skeptic Arguments 9 (2010), https://www.uea.ac.ukJdocuments/3154295/7847337/Deutsche-Bank-CRU-report.pdf; AR5, supra note 109, at 1.1, 123. tze USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 7. 121 Id. at 14 ("The cumulative weight of the scientific evidence contained in this report confirms that climate change is affecting the American people now, and that choices we make will affect our future and that of future generations."); IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at 1.2.2, 124 (2013) ("Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level."). USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 5 ("While some climate changes will occur slowly and relatively gradually, others could be rapid and dramatic, leading to unexpected breaking points in natural and social systems."). " a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Proposed Endangerment Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases Under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act, 74 Fed. Reg. 18886, 18904 (Apr. 24, 2009) (to be codified in 40 C.F.R. Chapter 1) [hereinafter TS Endangerment Findings] (emphasis added). M. (emphasis added). uas John Abatzoglou et al., A Primer on Global Climate Change and Its Likely Impacts, in CLIMATE CHANGE: WHAT rr MEANS FOR Us, OUR CHILDREN, AND OUR GRANDCHILDREN 11,15-22 (Joseph F. C. DiMento & Pamela OR with an atmosphere that has fewer GHGs than that of Venus (which is too hot), and more than that of Mars (which is too cold), which is just perfect for the amazing diversity of life that has developed and thrived on planet Earth, 116 GHGs in the atmosphere act like a blanket over the Earth to trap the heat that it receives from the sun.127 More GHGs in the atmosphere mean that more heat is being retained on Earth, with less heat radiating back out into space. Without this greenhouse effect, the average surface temperature of our planet would be 07 (- 18°C) instead of 590F (I5°C).121 Scientists have understood this basic mechanism of global warming since the late -nineteenth century Human beings have significantly altered the chemical composition of the Earth's atmosphere and its climate system.131 Collectively, we have changed the atmosphere and the Earth's climate system by engaging in activities that produce or release GHGs into the atmosphere. 132 Carbon dioxide is the key GHG, and there is abundant evidence that its emissions are largely responsible for the current warming trend.133 Although much of the excess carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans, plants, and forests, the increase of GHG concentrations resulting from historic and present human activities has altered the Earth's ability to maintain the delicate balance of energy it receives from the sun and that which it radiates back out into space. 134 In 2013, the CO2 concentration in our. atmosphere exceeded 400 ppm for the first time in recorded history (compared to the pre -industrial concentration of 280 ppm).135 For the first time since CO2 levels in the global atmosphere have been tracked, the monthly global average Doughman eds., 2007) ',rn+rgt.rcot rrc;&01--tad&pg--PA11&ots=mlPgvJeTRL&sig—zoV AvgQlsVEgWZSsWSNk7yIH3AEkv—onepage&q&f=false [hereinafterA Primer on Global Climate Change] ("The earth's climate system can be thought of as an elaborate balancing act of energy, water, and chemistry involving the atmosphere, oceans, ice masses, biosphere, and land surface., ). 126 JAMES HANSEN, STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN 22 Change, supra note 125, at 23. 4-25 (2009); See Abatzoglou, A Primer on Global Climate 127 Abatzoglou, A Primer on Global Climate Change, supra note 125, at 22. Its Id. at 16-17. g ' p 129Id. at 17. 13a See id. at 35 (describing the efforts of Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius). 131 Naomi Oreskes, The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change, in CLIMATE CHANGE: WHAT IT MEANS FOR Us, OUR CHILDREN, AND OUR GRANDCHILDREN 65, 93 (Joseph F. C. DiMento & Pamela Doughman eds., 2007) http://www.project206l.orglevents/meetings/climate2Ol0/includes/media/NotwrongClimateChange.MITPress.2007. pdf ("We have changed the chemistry of our atmosphere, causing sea level to rise, ice to melt, and climate to change. There is no reason to think otherwise."); see also Wash. Exec. Order No. 14-04 (Apr. 29, 2014), 132 httId. p://www.govemor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/exe_order/eo_ 14-04.pdf. "' See James E. Hansen et al., Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim? 2 OPEN ATMOSPHERIC SCI. J. 217, 217-31 (2008), http://www.columbia.edu/—jehl/2008/TargetCO2_20080407.pdf [hereinafter Where Should Humanity Aim?]. ivAbatzoglou, A Primer on Global Climate Change, supra note 125, at 15-22. NOAA, Greenhouse Gases Continued Rising in 2013,34 Percent Increase Since 1990, NOAA (May 2, 2012), http://research.noaa.gov/News/NewsArchive/LatestNews/Tabld/684/ArtMID/l 768/ArticleID/10553/Greenhouse- gases-continued-rising-in-2013-34-pereent-increase-since-I990.aspx ("We continue to tarn the dial up on this `electric blanket' of ours without knowing what the resulting temperatures will be."). 19 concentration of CO2 was 400 ppm for the entire month of March 2015.136 On April 18, 2017, atmospheric concentrations of CO2 exceeded 410 ppm for the first time in human history, and indeed, since long before humans began maintaining records of any sort.137 Current atmospheric CO2 concentrations are the highest they have been in the last 3 million yearS.138 The rate of fossil fuels emissions has also increased from 1.5%/year during 1973mi I to tar S. in ate of 2014. The rate of CO2 concentrations' increase in the atmosphere is also increasing,140 from 0.85 ppm per year in the 1960-1970 period, to 2.0 ppm per year in the 2000-2010 period.l41 Concentrations of other GHGs in the atmosphere have also increased from human activities. Atmospheric concentrations of methane, for example, have increased nearly 250% since the pre -industrial period.142 Concentrations of nitrous oxide have also increased by 120%." Humans not only continue to add GHGs into the atmosphere at a rate that outpaces their removal through natural processes,144 but the current and projected CO2 increase, for example, is about one hundred times faster than any that has occurred over the past 800,000 years. "I This increase has to be considered in light of the lifetime of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. A substantial portion (around 20%) of every ton of CO2 emitted by humans persists in the atmosphere for as long as a millennium or more, and while there, it continues to affect the climate system.146 The current concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere, therefore, are the result of both historic and current emissions. As the bulk of current GHG emissions will persist 36 NOAA, Greenhouse Gas Benchmark Reached (May 6, 2015), hMn•//recnnm6 gas-benchmark-reached-.aspx. --_'---`a11J1Ow"'mvlwtii68/ArticleID/11153/Greenhouse- 13rian Kahn, We Just Breached the 410 PPM Thresholdfor CO2, SCn NT1F1C Amt. (April 21, 2017), https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/we just-breached-the-410-ppm-threshold-for-co2. Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at ¶ 16; Dieter Liithi et al., High -resolution Carbon Dioxide Concentration Record 650,000- 800,000 Years Before Present 453 NATURE 379, 379-82 (May 2008), http:l/www•nature.corn/nature/Journal/v453/n7193/full/nature06949.html [hereinafter High -resolution Carbon Dioxide Concentration Record] (prior to this publication it was accepted atmospheric CO2 record extended back 650,000 years, but now research indicates that the record can be extended 800,000 years, or two complete glacial cycles). "9 Hansen, 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at ¶ 19. 300 Hansen, Young People's Burden, supra note 109. 1.. Hansen, 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at 121. 142IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at TS.2.8.3, 52 ("The concentration of CH4 has increased by a factor of 2.5 since pre- industrial times, from 722 [697 to 7471 ppb in 1750 to 1803 [1799 to 1807) ppb in 2011."). '49 Id. at TS.2.8.4, 52. - '41 EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at ES-2 ("Atmospheric GHG concentrations have been increasing because anthropogenic emissions have been outpacing the rate at which GHGs are removed from the atmosphere by natural, processes over timescales of decades to centuries."). 145 Liithi, High -resolution Carbon Dioxide Concentration Record, supra note 138, at 379-82. "Hansen, Where Should Humanity Aim?, supra note 133, at 220; see also EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at 16 ("Carbon cycle models indicate that for a pulse of CO2 emissions, given an equilibrium background, 50% of the atmospheric increase will disappear within 30 years, 30% within a few centuries, and the last 20% may ' remain in the atmosphere for thousands of years.")- Abatzoglon A Primer on Global Climate Change, supra note ear at t ("Since CO2her has a lifetime of over one hundred years, these emissions have been collecting for many years in the atmosphere."). 20 for centuries to millennia, the impacts associated with the GHG emissions of today will be mostly home by our children and future generations. Changes in different aspects of Earth's climate system over the last century tell a coherent story: the impacts we see today are consistent with the scientific understanding of how the climate system should respond to GHG increases from human activities and how the Earth has responded to increases in CO2 in the past.'" This is reflected in ice cores that have trapped air from thousands to a few million years ago, tree rings, and seabed sediments that show where sea level was thousands and even millions of years ago.148 Collectively, these changes cannot be explained as the product of natural climate variability alone.149 A substantial andpredominant human contribution provides the best explanation of observed climate changes. 15" These well -documented and observable impacts from the changes in Earth's climate system highlight that the current level of atmospheric CO2 concentration has already taken the planet into a danger zone. The Earth will continue to warm in reaction to concentrations of COZ from past emissions as well as present and future emissions. 152 2. Global Temperature Increases One k% observable change is the rapid increase in recorded global surface temperatures. As a result of increased atmospheric GHGs from human activities, the Earth has warmed as scientists have predicted.154 The increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, primarily CO2,155 have raised global surface temperature by I.1°C (2°F) since the late nineteenth century,156 which is close to, and probably slightly above, the maximum warming of the Holocene area, the period of relatively stable climate over the last 10,000 years over which human civilization developed. 157 In the last century, the Earth has warmed at a rate "roughly ten times faster than the average rate of ice -age -recovery warming." 158 Because of the centuries it 147 Hansen; Young People's Burden supra note 109; Hansen, 2016 Declaration, supra note 15. USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 23; Hansen, Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms, supra note 14. 14 USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 24. 150 Susan Solomon et al., Irreversible climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions, 106 PNAS 1704, 1704-09 (2009), http://www.pnas.org/content/106/6/l704.fuil.pdf+html; IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at D, 15. 15. USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 7. ... EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at 26. 15.National Science and Technology Council, Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, Scientific Assessment of the Effects of Global Change on the United States, at 51 (May 2008), http://ulpeis.anl.gov/documents/dpeis/references/pdfs/nstc_2008.pdf; IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at 1.3.1, 131; USGCRP, Climate. Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 22; Nat'l Aeronautics and Space Admin. ("NASA") & Goddard Institute for Space Studies ("GISS"), Global Temperature, https://climate nasa.gov/vital-signs/global- teemperature (illustrating the change in global surface temperatures). IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at TS.2.2.1, 37; USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 22. 1s5IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at TS.2.8, 50. 1s6 NASA, Facts: Climate Change: How Do We Know?: Global Temperature Rise, https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence. "' IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at B.1, 5; Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15; at 12. NASA, How is Today's Warming Di, fjerent from the Past?, NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY, http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Global Wanning/page3.php. 21 takes for the climate system to respond to chances in atmospheric CO2 composition, due to the ocean's great thermal inertia, there is substantial additional warming already "in the pipeline," meaning that it is inevitable.159 Warming already in the pipeline is mostly attributable to climate mechanisms that slowly heat the Earth's climate system in response to atmospheric CO2,160 Because of year-to-year variations in these thermometer readings, scientists compare temperature differences over a decade to determine patterns.161 Employing this decadal scale, the surface of the planet has warmed at a rate of roughly 0.12°C per decade since 1951.161 Global mean surface temperature has been decidedly higher during the last few decades of the twentieth century than at any time during the receding four centuries. Global surface temperatures have been rising dramatically since 1951 and, at the time 2010 tied for the hottest year on record165 and "January 2000 to December 2009 was the warmest decade on record," while "[t]he year 2013 tied with 2009 and 2006 for the seventh warmest year since 1880."l66 Then, 2014 became the new hottest year on record.167 In 2015 the average global temperature "sh mark set in 2014 by 0.23 degrees Fahrenheit (0.13 Celsius).,] 168 attered the previous Then 2016 became the hottest year on record, making "2016 the third year in a row to set a new record for global surface temperatures. "Not only was 2016 the warmest year on record, but 8 of the 12 months that make up the year — from January through September, with the exception of June — were the warmest on record for those respective months. October, November, and December of 2016 were the second warmest of those months on record — in all three cases, behind records set in 2015.i170 In 2016, the Arctic experienced its "warmest year ever, consistent with record low sea ice found in that region for most of the year."171 Notably, 16 of the 17 hottest years on record have occurred since 2001.172 2017 is shaping up to be no exception to this trend; so far the year has already shown the second warmest January -March on record.173 In July 2017, the year-to-date `Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at 130. 16e Fred Pearce, With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change 101-04 (2007) htltp://www.gci.org.uk/Documents/wsay.pdf. IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at 1.2.2, 128 29. IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at TS.2.2.1, 37. '62Id. atB.1, 5. 163 The Nat'l Academies Press, Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Last 2,000 Years 3 (2006), http://www nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11676. 1ss NASA, Facts: Vital Signs: Global Temperature, https://climate.nasa.gov/vita]-signs/global-temperature/. NOAA, NOAA: 2010 Ties for Warmest Year on Record (Jan. 12, 2011), h ttp://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories20l l /20110112�lobalstats.htm]. NASA, NASA Finds 2013 Sustained Long -Term Climate Warming Trend (January 21, 2014), hops://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/January/nasa-finds-2013-sustained-long-term-climate-warming- trend/#.WQOmW 1 KZNE4; NASA & GISS, 2009: Second Warmest Year on Record; End of Warmest Decade; https://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20100121. '67 NASA, NOAA Find 2014 Warmest Year in Modern Record (Jan. 16, 2015), http://www.nasa.gov/press/2015/January/Hasa-determines-2014-warmest-year-in-modem-record. 16s NASA, NOAA Analyses Reveal Record -Shattering Global Warm Temperatures in 2015 (Jan. 20, 2016), http://Www.nasa.gov/press-release/Hasa-noaa-analyses-reveal-record-shattering-global-warm-temperatures-in-2015. NASA, NASA, NOAA Data Show 2016 Warmest Year on Record.Globally (Jan. 18, 2017), httpi://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-noaa-data-show-2016-warmest-year-on-record-globally 170 Id. 171 Id. 172ld. 173 NOAA, Assessing the U.S. Climate in March 2017 (April 6, 2017), https://www ncei noaa.gov/news/national- climate-201703. 22 average temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 50.9°F, 3.4°F above average. This is the second warmest on record, 1.2°F cooler than the record set in 2012.174 The dramatic increase of the average global surface temperature is alarming. The past several decades present an anomaly, as global surface temperatures are registering higher than at any point in the past 1,300 years .l 5 The IPCC has observed that "[w]arming of the climate system is unequivocal. The United States EPA has recognized the scientific consensus that has developed on the fact of global warming and its cause: the Earth is heating up due to human activities. l 7 Changes in many different aspects of Earth's climate system over the past century are consistent with this warming trend. Based on straightforward scientific principles, human - induced GHG increases lead not only to warming of land surfaces, but also to the warming of oceans,1791increased atmospheric moisture levels,180 rises in the global sea level,1%1 and Chan es in rainfall and atmospheric air circulation patterns that affect water and heat distribution.' As expected (and consistent with the temperature increases in land surfaces), ocean temperatures have also increased. Increased ocean temperatures affect the ocean's ability to circulate heat around the globe; which can have catastrophic implications for the global climate system.184 Despite its ability to absorb enormous amounts of heat without corresponding temperature changes, the average temperature of the global ocean has increased significantly.185 The most significant indicator of the planet's energy imbalance due to human -induced GHG increases is the long-term increase in global average ocean heat content over the last 50 years, extending down to several thousand meters below the ocean surface.186 174 NOAA, Assessing the U.S. Climate in July 2017 (August 7, 2017), https://www.ncei noaa.gov/news/national- climate-201706. 175 USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 23. 176IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at B, 4. 177EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at ES-2 ("Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level .... Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic GHG concentrations.") (emphasis added). ns IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at TS.2.2.1, 37. 179Id. at TS.2.2.3, 38. "O USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 33; B.D. Sauter et al., Identification of Human -Induced Changes in Atmospheric Moisture Content, 104 PNAS 15248, 15248-53 (Sept. 25, 2007), http://www.pnas.org/content/104/39/15248 full.pdf+html. IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at TS.2.6, 46. "2 USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 26, 32-33, 36. "' IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at TS.2.4, 39; Hansen, Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms, supra note 14. 114 USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 560. "'United Nations Environment Programme ("UNEP"), Climate Change Science Compendium 2009,26 (2009), http://wedocs_unep.org/bitstreara/handle/20.500.11822/7798/- 186 S. Levitus et al., Global Ocean Heat Content 1955-2008 in Light of Recenly Revealed in Problems 36 J. GEOPHYSICAL Ries. LETTERS L07608 (Apr. 2009), http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2008GLO37155/fidl. 23 3. PrecinitatiOn Storms Wildfires and Drought As predicted, precipitation patterns have changed due to increases in atmospheric moisture levels and changes in atmospheric air circulation patterns, another indicator that the Earth is warminf.187 As the Earth warms, moisture levels increase because wanner air holds more moisture.l s In and regions, however, higher temperatures lead to greater evaporation.189 Changes in the Earth's water cycle increase the potential for, and severity of, storms, flooding, and droughts. Storm -prone areas are already expeniencinf a greater likelihood and incidence of severe storms and this heightened threat will continue.19 In and regions, increased precipitation is likely to cause flash flooding followed by drought. 112 These changes are already occurring. Coinciding with increasing temperatures, droughts in parts of the midwestern, southeastern, and western United States have increased in frequency and severity within the last fifty years.193 Most of the recent heat waves can be attributed to human -caused climate disruption.194 For example, in September 2015 almost 20% of the United States experienced a severe to exceptional drought and over 50% of the United States was abnormal dry.1 ' Over 40% of the western United States experienced a severe to exceptional drought and 92 /o of California experienced a severe to exceptional drought.197 Nearly 60 million people in the west were being affected by drought. Severe drought of this kind has significant implications for drinking water supplies, agriculture, rivers, and fish. Based on the laws of physics and the past climate record, scientists have concluded that precipitation events will increase globally, particularly in tropical and high latitude regions, while decreasing in subtropical and mid -latitude regions,198 with longer periods between normal heavy rainfalls. 9 In the arctic, precipitation is expected to increase by more than 50 percent as a result of anthropogenic climate change.200 Climate change is already causing, and will continue 's'USGCRP, 1esClimate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 1, 27, 32, 36. EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at 111. 1s9id. 190Id. 191Id. at 120-21; USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 43. 19z EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at 115. 93Id. at 143, 145,148. 9q USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 38 ("The summer 2011 heat wave and drought in Texas was primarily driven by precipitation deficits, but the human contribution to climate change approximately doubles the probability that the beat was record -breaking."). "'See United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Drought Monitor Map Archive (September 15, 2015 national data set) http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/MapsAndData/MapArcMve.aspx. 196See United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Drought Monitor Map Archive (September 15, 2015 Climate Region: West data set) http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/MapsAndData/MapArchive.aspx. 197 See United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Drought Monitor Map Archive (September 15, 2015 State: California data set) http://droughtinonitor.unl.edu/MapsAndData/MapArchive.aspx. 19s EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at ES4, 74. 199Id. �00 R. Bintanja & FM Selton, Future Increases in Arctic Precipitation Linked to Local Evaporation and Sea -Ice Retreat, 509 NATURE 479-82 (2014). 24 to cause, more frequent, extreme, and costly weather events (such as hurricanes).201 Coinciding with increasing temperatures in the Atlantic sea surface, the annual number of major tropical storms and hurricanes has increased over the past 100 years in North America.zoz Other changes consistent with climate modeling resulting from global warming have been observed. These include not only in the amount, intensity, and frequency of precipitation but also in the type of precipitation .20 In higher altitude and latitude regions, including in mountainous areas, more precipitation is falling as rain rather than snow.204 With early snow melt occurring because of climate change, the reduction in snowpack can aggravate water supply problems.205 The snow cover extent of North America in June 2013 was the fourth lowest ever recorded.206 According to a snow report from April 2015, snow cover "tent for the contiguous U.S. was 161,000 square miles, which is 121,000 square miles below the 1981-2010 average.207 This means the April 2015 snow cover extent was the 1 Oth smallest on record and the smallest since 2012.208 In March 2016, the snow cover for the contiguous U.S. was 382,000 square miles, 359,000 square miles below the 1981-2010 average and the second smallest snow cover in the 50-year period for which records exist.209 In March 2017, the snow cover for the contiguous U.S. was yet again below the 1981-2010 average, this time by 81,000 square miles, the 190i smallest in the 51-year period of record.210 As the 2010 Russian summer heat wave graphically demonstrated, heat can destroy crops, trigger wildfires, exacerbate air pollution, and cause increased illness and deathS.21 Similar impacts are occurring across the United States. The "number and frequency of forest fires and insect outbreaks are increasing in the interior West, the Southwest, and Alaska. Precipitation and stream temperatures are increasing in most of the continental United States. The western United States is experiencing reduced snowpack and earlier peaks in spring runoff. The growth of many crops and weeds is being stimulated.',212 Climate change and ocean acidification are threatening the survival and wellbeing of millions of species of plants, fish and 261 USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 38. 202 NSTC, Scientific Assessment, supra note 153, at 7. 2031d. at ES-2. 204 USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 75. 201Id. at 72. 246Arctic Ice Loss Rate Moderated in 2013 Says NOAA (Dec. 13, 2013) http J/archive.reportingclimatescience.com/archivenews/article/arctic-ice-loss-rate-moderated-in-2013-says- noaa html ("[Tlhe below normal June SCE in North America was driven by rapid snow melt, rather than anomalously low snow accumulation prior to melt onset."). 20'NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate: National Snow and Ice for April 2015, htip://www.ncdc noaa.gov/sotc/snow/201504. 208id. 209 NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, National Snow and Ice — March 2016, http://www.ncdcnoaa.gov/sotc/snow/201603. 210 NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, National Snow and Ice — March 2017, https://Www.nedc noaa.gov/sotc/snow/201703. 211 See NOAA Earth System Research Lab, The Russian Heat Wave 2010 (Sept. 2010), http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/csi/moscow2010. 212 EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at 25 (citing P. Backlund et al., Executive Summary, in THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AGRICULTURE, LAND RESOURCES, WATER RESOURCES, AND BIODNEItsn'Y IN THE UNITED STATES (2008)), 25 wildlife, and Earth's biodiversity. As many as one in six species are threatened with extinction due to climate change.213 Many more species that do not face extinction will face changes in abundance, distributions, and species interactions that cause adverse impacts for ecosystems and humans.214 p Climate change, and related warmer temperatures and drought, are leading to longer and more destructive wildfire seasons. In 2015 for example, Alaskan wildfires burned over 5 million acres.2" Alaska's 2015 wildfire season was the second worse since records began in 1940, exceeded only by the 2004 record -breaking wildfire season.216 As the American Meteorological Society concluded, anthropogenic climate change has increased the risk of fire seasons of this severity in Alaska by 34-60%.217 Wildfires likewise ravaged areas throughout the western United States. The Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, referred to the 2015 wildfire situation in Washington as "an unprecedented cataclysm.„ 218 Fires burned millions of acres, destroyed hundreds of homes, and caused multiple fatalities. Indeed, the 2015 fire season set an ominous record: for the first time on record U.S, wildfires burned more than 10 million acres.219 2015 was also the most expensive wildfire season on record with over $1.7 billion spent to fight fires,12o Wildfire seasons are only expected to get increasingly destructive, dangerous, and expensive in the coming years as a result of climate change.221 211 Mark C. Urban, Accelerating Extinction Risk from Climate Change, 348 SCIENCE 6234 (2015), littp://science.sciencemag.org/content/348/6234/571 full. 114 Johan Ehrlen and William Morris, Predicting Changes in the Distribution and Abundance of Species Under Environmental Change, Ecology Letters, (Mar. 18, 2015), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4674973/. "' Asaf Shalev, 2015 Alaska Wildfire Season Now 2nd Biggest on Record, ALASKA DISPATCH NEWS (Aug. 10, 2015), http://www.adn.con /article/20150810/2015-alaska-wildfire-season-now-2nd-biggest-record. 211 J. L. Partain & Coauthors, 2016: An Assessment of the Role ofAnthropogenic Climate Change in the Alaska Fire Season of 2015, in EXPLAINING EXTREME EVENTS OF 2015 FROM A CLIMATE CHANGE PERSPECTNE, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 97 (12), 514, available at https://www.am. oc.org/ains/index.cfm/pubEcations/builetin-of-the- american-meteorological-society-bams/explaining-extreme-events-firm-a-climate-perspective. nt Id. at SIT 218 CNN, Wildfires Roar Throughout Washington State, Governor Says (Aug. 20, 2015), http://www.cnn.coni/2015/08/2OAis/wildfires-western-states. 219National Interagency Fire Center, Total Wildland Fires and Acres (1960-2015), https://www.nifc.gov/firelnfo/firelnfo-stats_tomWires html. 220 Doyle Rice, 2015 Now USA's Costliest Wildfire Season on Record, USA TODAY (Dec. 17, 2015), https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/12/16/costliest-wildfire-season-record/77417982/. 221 Partain, J. L., and Coauthors, 2016: An Assessment of the Role of Anthropogenic Climate Change in the Alaska Fire Season of 2015, supra note 216, at S 17 (Concluding that anthropogenic climate change has increased risk of severe wildfires in Alaska by 34-60%, consistent "with the similar finding by Yoon et al. (2015) for wildfires in California, where an increased wildfire risk relative to the preindustrial climate emerged in the 1990s. Similar model -derived results were found for the western United States (Luo et al. 2013; Yue et al. 2013), Canada (Flannigan et al. 2015), and Alaska (Young at al. 2016)!'); see also M.D. Flannigan et al., Fuel Moisture Sensitivity to Temperature and Precipitation: Climatic Change Implications, CLIMATIC CHANGE 134, 59-71 (2015), https://link.springer.com/article/lo.1007/s10584-015-1521-0; L. F. Luo et al., Will Future Climate Favor More Erratic Wild Fires in the Western United States? J. APPL. METEOR. CLWATOL., 52, 2410-17 (2013), http://journals.ametsoc.org/do✓full/i0.1175/JAMC-D-12-0317.1; A.M. Young et al., Climate Thresholds Shape Northern High Latitude re Regimes and Imply Vulnerability to Future Climate Change, ECOGEOGRAPHY (2016), http://files.cfc.umt.edu/phiguera/publications/Young_:eLal X. Yue et al., Ensemble Projections of Wild Reactivity and Carbonaceous Aerosol Concentrations over the Western United States in the Mid-21st century, 77 ATMOS. ENVIRON., 767-80 (2013), https://wwvV.ncbi nlm nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3763857/. 26 4. Sea Level Rise As expected, global sea levels have also risen, and are expected to continue to rise at an exponential, not linear, rate.222 Based on measurements taken from 1993-2010, sea levels have been rising at an average rate of 3.2 millimeters per year.'3 Though sea levels rose about 8 inches over the last century, within the last decade, that rate has nearly doubled.224 Ice melt doubling of 10, 20, or 40 years would result in sea level rise of several meters in 50, 100, or 200 years respectively and, as evidenced by recent ice melting, it appears that the ice melt doubling time is currently at the low end of the 10-40 year range.2 5 Rising seas, brought about by melting of polar icecaps and glaciers, as well as bey thermal expansion of the warming oceans, will cause flooding in coastal and low-lying areas. The combination of rising sea levels and more severe storms creates, conditions conducive to severe storm surges during high rides 227 In coastal communities this can overwhelm coastal defenses (such as levees and sea walls), as witnessed during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy.228 Because of the long time that CO2 persists in the climate system, without immediate and rapid reductions in CO2 emissions we will lock in catastrophic consequences, including multi -meter sea level rise. This would mean that all coastal cities would "los[e] functionality" with "practically incalculable" economic and social costs.229 Relying on adaptation to these threats "will be unacceptable to most of humanity.„230 Sea level is not uniform across the globe because it depends on variables such as ocean temperature and currents."' Unsurprisingly, the most vulnerable lands are low-lyig islands, river deltas, and areas that already lie below sea level because of land subsidence. 23 Based on these factors, scientists have concluded that the immediate threats to the United States from rising seas are the most severe on the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts.233 Worldwide, hundreds of millions of people live in river deltas and vulnerable coastlines.234 " Hansen, Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms, supra note 15, at 3761; USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 44; EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 121, at ES-3; IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at ] .A,11. 22' IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at BA, 11. 224 NASA, Facts: Evidence: Climate Change: How Do We Know? -Sea Level Rise, http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/#nG4 (citing J.A. Church & N.J. White, A 201h Century Acceleration in Global Sea Level Rise, 33 GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LFMRs (2006), - httip://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2005GLO24826/full). Hansen, Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms, supra note 15, at 3761. 22' EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at ES-7; USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 45. 227 USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 45; EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at 75. 22' EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at 86, 118, 229 Hansen, Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms, supra note 15, at 3762. 230id. 231 IPCC, ARS, supra note 109, at E.6, 26. 2" EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at 121. 233 Id. at 128; USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 589 (Annual damage resulting from sea level rise "in the Gulf region alone could be $2.7 to $4.6 billion by 2030, and $8.3 to $13.2 billion by 2050."). 234 EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at 159. 27 If carbon pollution is not quickly abated, there is near scientific certainty that humanity will experience sea level rise of several meters this century,235 submerging much of the eastern seaboard of the U.S., as well as low lying areas of Europe, the Far -East, and the. Indian sub- continent. This would mean that we would lose the functionality of all coastal cities with "incalculable" economic and socials costs.236 "Today, rising sea levels are submerging low-lying lands, eroding beaches, converting wetlands to open water, exacerbating coastal flooding, and increasing the salinity of estuaries and freshwater aquifers.s237 Low-lying lands are especially vulnerable to sea level rise. Scientists have predicted that wetlands in the Mid -Atlantic region of the United States cannot withstand a 7-millimeter per year rise in sea levels 238 As wetlands are inundated, further impacts from sea level rise will multiply, as "protection of coastal lands and people against storm surge will be compromised. ,239 Glacial and ice cap melting is one of the major indicators of global warning and is a significant cause of global sea level change.240 When glaciers and ice caps melt, this adds water to the ocean .24 1 As a result of these interlocking changes, "sea level rise is expected to continue well beyond this century as a result of both past and future GHG emissions from human activities."242 5. Glaciers Sea Ice and Permafrost As expected, mountain glaciers, which are, the source of freshwater for hundreds of millions of people, are receding worldwide because of warming temperatures.243 In the Brooks Range of northern Alaska all of the glaciers are in retreat and in southeastern Alaska 98% are in retreat.244 In 2010, Glacier National Park in Montana had only twenty-five glaciers larger than twenty-five acres, down from one hundred and fifty in 1850 245 These glaciers may be completely gone in the coming decades.246 Mountain glaciers are in retreat all over the world, 2" Hansen, Ice Melt Sea Level Rise and Supersionns, supra note 9, at 3761-62, 3800. 236Id. at 20062. 212 U.S. Climate Change Science Program ("USCCSp"), Coastal Sensitivity to Sea -Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid- AtlanticRegion 2 (Jan. 2009), http://downtoads.globalchange-gov/sap/sap4-1/sap4-l-final-report-all.pdf [hereinafter Coastal Sensitivity to Sea -Level Rise]. 2" Id, at 4. 139 USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 402. 240EPA, Climate Change Indicators in the United States 56-61 (2014), https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-07/documents/climateindicators-full-2014.pdf,, see also EPA, Climate Change Indicators in the United States (2016), https://Www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016- O8/documents/climate_ indicators 2016.pdf. 241 USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 44. 2421d. at 45. 2" See TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at I I 1 ("Glaciers throughout North America are melting, and the 4particularly rapid retreat of Alaskan glaciers represents about half of the estimated loss of glacial mass worldwide."). 4 Lonnie G. Thompson, Climate Change: The Evidence and Our Options, 2 BEHAVIOR ANALYST 153, 158 (Fall 2010), https://www ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2995507/. 2" United States Geological Survey (Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center), Retreat of Glaciers in Glacier National Park (May 2013), https://www.nps.gov/subjects/chmatechange/upload/USGS_G1acRetreat_2013.pdf. Annie Minard, No More Glaciers in Glacier National Park by 2020?, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (March 2, 2009), http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090302-glaciers-melting.ht w. including on Mt. Kilimanjaro, in the Himalayas and the Alps (99% in retreat), among the glaciers of Peru and Chile (92% in retreat), and in the United States.241 Although a relatively minor contribution to sea level rise, the melting of mountain glaciers is serious in areas that rely on snow melt for irrigation and drinking water supply.24s A large snow pack or glacier acts as a supplemental reservoir, holding a great deal of water in the form of ice and snow through the winter and spring and releasing it in the summer when rainfall is lower or absent 249 The water systems of the western United States (particularly California) and the Andean nations 2oef Peru and Chile, among other places, all heavily rely on these natural forms of water storage. In addition to providing a more reliable water supply, the storing of precipitation as ice and snow helps moderate potential flooding.251 Yet as temperatures warm, not only will these areas lose this supplemental form of water storage, but also severe flooding is likely to increase (because when rain falls on snow, it accelerates the melting of glaciers and snow packs).252 Scientists have also documented an overall trend of Arctic sea ice thinning.151 The arctic sea ice (frozen ocean water) extent for March 2017 was "the lowest in the satellite record for the month. Arctic Arctic sea ice plays an important role in stabilizing the global climate because it reflects back into space much of the solar radiation that the region receives.255 contrast, open ocean water absorbs much more heat from the sun, thus, amplifying human -induced warming and creating an increased global warming effect.zse As Arctic sea ice decreases, the region is less capable of stabilizing the global climate and may act as a feedback loop (thereby aggravating global warming) .257 Arctic sea ice isdeclining precipitously and is expected to disappear completely in the coming decades.258 During the 2007 melt season, the extent of Arctic sea ice declined precipitously to what was then its lowest level since satellite measurements began in 1979.211 In 2013, Arctic sea ice extent for September was 700,000 square miles less than the 242 Thompson, supra note 244, at 155-60; USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 45. z4a IPCC, ARS, supra note 109, at 9.3.2, 7. 249 See Thompson, Climate Change: The Evidence and Our Options, supra note 244, at 164. 250See id. at 155_60, 164. p 25i EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at 111. 2521d. xs2 NOAA, National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Snow and Ice — March 2017, https://www.ncdc noaa.gov/sote/global-snow/201703. 254 National Snow and Ice Data Center ("NSIDC"), Press Release, Another Record, but a Somewhat Cooler Arctic Ocean (April 11, 2017), https://nsidc.orgtarcticseaicenews/2017/04/another-record-but-a-somewhat-cooler-arctic- ocean. 2" EPA, Climate Change Indicators in the United States, (2014) supra note 240 at 58. 2561d. 257ld. 2ss USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 28 ("The observed drastic reduction in sea ice can also lead to a "tipping point" — a point beyond which an abrupt or irreversible transition to s different climate state occurs. In.this case, the dramatic loss of sea ice could tip the Arctic Ocean into a permanent, nearly ice -free state in summer, with repercussions that may extend far beyond the Arctic."). n9NSIDC, Press Release, Arctic Sea Ice Shatters All Previous Record Lows (Oct. 1, 2007), http://nside.org/news/press/2007_seaiceminimum/20071001—pressrelease html; EPA, TS Endangerment Findings, supra note 123, at 27 ("Average arctic temperatures increased at almost twice the global average rate in the past 100 years."). 29 1981-2010 average for the same period.260 In 2014, the Arctic sea ice extent for September was 463,000 square miles below average.261 In 2015, the maximum extent of the Arctic sea ice was the lowest in the satellite record at the time.262 The 2015 record was broken just a year later, in 2016, when the wintertime extent of the arctic sea ice hit another record low, according to NASA.261 This record was again broken, for the third straight year, in 2017, when an all-time record low maximum extent of arctic sea ice coincided with a historic low minimum extent for Antarctic sea ice.264 With less sea ice, less solar radiation is reflected back to space. Thus, these tends reflect that the melting of ice is part of a positive feedback loop that amplifies warming. Similarly, there has been a general increase in permafrost temperatures and permafrost melting in Alaska and other parts of the Arctic.265 Because much of the Arctic permafrost overlays old eat bogs, scientists believe (and are concerned) that the thawing of the permafrost 26 may release methane that will further increase global warning to even more dangerous levels. 67 Indeed, substantial methane releases from thawing permafrost have been detected in Alaska and Siberia.268 The amount of carbon dioxide emitted from northern tundra areas in Alaska between October and December each year has increased 70 percent since 1975 269 Carbon dioxide and methane released from thawing permafrost could contribute "as much as 0.4° F to 0.6° F of warming by 2100: i270 Beginning in late 2000, the Jakobshavn Isbrae Glacier (which has a major influence over the mass of the Greenland ice sheet) lost significant amounts of ice.271 In August 2010, an enormous iceberg (roughly ninety-seven square miles in size) broke off from Greenland.272 In the especially hot summer of 2012, Greenland's Rink Glacier, which typically drains about 11 billion tons (I I gigatons) of ice per year in the early 2000s, lost an additional 6.7 gigatons of 26° NSIDC, Press Release, A Slow and Bumpy Climb (Jan. 8, 2014), http://nsidc,org/arcticseaicenews/2014/01/a- slow-and-bumpy-climb. 26'NSIDC, Press Release, Arctic Sea Ice Reaches Minimum Extent for 2014 (Sept. 22, 2014), http://nsidc.org/areticseaicenews/2014/09/arctic-minimum-reached. 262 NASA, 2015 Arctic Sea Ice Maximum Annual Extent Is Lowest on Record (Mar. 19, 2015), https://www.nasa.gov/r,ontent/goddard/2015-arctic-sea-ice-maximum-annual-extent-is-lowest-on-record. 263 NASA, 2016 Arctic Sea Ice Wintertime Extent Hits Another Record Low, (Mar. 28, 2016), http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/2016-arctic-sea-ice-wintertime-extent-hits-another-record-low. 2" NASA, Sea Ice Extent Sinks to Record Lows at Both Poles (Mar. 22, 2017), https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/sea-ice-extent-sinks-to-recor- -lows-at-both-poles. 26s IPCC, ARS, supra note 109, at 4.3.3.4, 46. 2" USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 48. 267 See IPCC, AR5, supra note 109, at 149; USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 48. 261 USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 48. 26s Ellen Gray (NASA) Alaska Tundra Source of Early -Winter Carbon Emissions (May 8, 2017), 270 https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/alaska-tundra-source-of-early-winter-carbon-cniissions. Id. 271 Gary Braasch & Bill McKibben, Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World, 18-20 (2009); see also J.E. Box et al., Greenland, in Arctic Report Card: Update for 2010, 55 (Oct. 19, 2010), ftp://ftp.oarnoaa.gov/arctieldocuments/ArcticReportCar(_fuli_report2010.pdf ("A clear pattern of exceptional and record -setting warm air temperatures is evident at long-term meteorological stations around Greenland."). zv2 NASA Earth Observatory, Ice Island Calves Off Petermann Glacier (Aug. 2010), http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturatHazards/view.php?id=45112&src=eorss-nh. 30 mass in a solitary melt event lasting four months 273 Nine Antarctic ice shelves have also collapsed into icebergs in the last fifty years (six of them since 1996).274 An ice shelf roughly the size of Rhode Island collapsed in 2002, and an ice bridge collapsed in 2009, leaving an ice shelf the size of Jamaica on the verge of shearing off.275 The 2002 collapse of the Larsen Ice Shelf, which had existed for at least 11,000 years, was."unprecedented in respect to both area and time.„276 The "sudden and complete disintegration" of the Larsen Ice Shelf took a mere 35 days. 77 Most recently, scientific reports warn of the disintegration of both the West Antarctic ice sheet and the East Antarctic ice sheet, causing multi -meter sea -level rise.275 Such sea level rise will devastate coastal regions, including much of the eastern seaboard. Millions of Americans and trillions of dollars in property damage will result. The risk of this devastation approaches certainty, unless fossil fuel emissions are rapidly phased out. The recent studies more fully account for the potential for non -linear ice sheet melting, which could raise the sea level by 10 feet (or more) by mid-century279 The rate of melting for these ice sheets is exceeding scientists' expectations, requiring scientists to forecast even greater increases in global sea level rise.210 6. Ocean Acidification The negative effects of increased CO2 emissions are not limited to changes in our climate systems. Rather, CO2 emissions are also having a severe impact on our oceans. As it stands, the oceans absorb around 30% of global CO2 emissions.2" This absorption has greatly mitigated the effects CO2 otherwise would have had on our climate.282 However, the cost of this mitigation has been a pernicious change in our ocean's chemistry.2s3 273 Carol Rasmussen, NASA Discovers a New Mode of Ice Loss in Greenland, NASA (May 25, 2017), https://www.nasa.govlfeaume/jpl/nasa-discovers-a-new-mode-of-ice-loss-in-geeniand. 274AIister Doyle, Antarctic Ice Shelf Set to Collapse Due to Warming, REUTERS (Jan. 19, 2009), http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE50I4G520090119. "NASA Earth Observatory, Wilkins Ice Bridge Collapse (Apr. 2009), http://earthobn"atory.nasa.gov/IOTD/View.php?id=37806. 276U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal -Change and Glaciological Map of the Larsen Ice Shelf Area, Antarctica: I940- 2005 at 10 (2008), http://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/2600B/Larsenparnphletl2600B.pdf. 277 Id. 27a NASA, NASA-UCI Study Indicates Loss of West Antarctic Glaciers Appears Unstoppable (May 12, 2014), http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/may/nasa-uci-study-indicates-loss-of-west-antarctic-glaciers-appeats- unstoppable/#.U5jBk ldV3H; J.S. Greenbaum et al., Ocean Access to a Cavity Beneath Totten Glacier in East Antarctica, 8 NATURE GEOSCIENCE 294 (Apr. 2015). 279Id.; Hansen, Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms, supra note 15, at 3800. "'Hansen, Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms, supra note 15, at 3761; Hannah Hickey, West Antarctic Ice Sheet Collapse is Under Way, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON (May 12, 2014), http://Www.washington. edu/news/2014/05/12/west-antarctic-ice-sheet-collapse-is-under-way. 211 Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb & Jacqueline Savitz, Acid Test: Can We Save Our Oceans Front CO2?, OCEANA 2 (2d 282 ed. 2009), http://www.salemsound.org/PDF/Acidification_Report-09.pdf [hereinafter Acid Test]. Id. 2s31d. 31 Ocean acidification is defined as "a reduction in the pH of seawater for an extended period due primarily to the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by the ocean.""' Over the last 250 years, humans have increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations by 40%.2s5 The oceans, in turn, have absorbed about a quarter of this CO2 2s6 As CO2 has been absorbed and dissolved in the seawater it has had an acidifying effect.287 As a result, "f olver the last 250 years, the average upper -ocean pH has decreased by about 0.1 units, from about 8.2 to 8.1: ,211 Thi drop in pH corresponds with a 30% s increase in surface ocean acidity.289 This carbon dioxide absorption and resulting acidity in oceans cause a decrease in the concentration of carbonate ions, which threatens the formation of calcium carbonate shells and skeletons in many marine organisms. When CO2 enters into solution with water (H20), carbonic acid (H3CO2) is formed. The carbonic acid then breaks down, releasing a bicarbonate ion CO and a hydrogen ion (Fl+),290 As increasing quantities of CO2 dissolve in seawater,, the s) concentration of hydrogen ions increases, causing a decrease in pH (pH is inversely proportional to the concentration of hydrogen ions: the greater the concentration of hydrogen ions, the lower the pH) and an increase in acidity.291 The newly free hydrogen ion then bonds with a free carbonate ion, forming another bicarbonate ion (HCO3-) 29 Thus as the concentration of hydrogen ions increases, the concentration of carbonate decreases.293 This is significant because carbonate is essential to many life -functions, such as forming calcium carbonate shells and skeletons,294 This process has been described in the Figure 1 below:295 214 Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification, Ocean Acidification: From Knowledge to Action, Washington State's Strategic Response, xi (H. Adelsman & L. Whitely Binder eds., 2012) https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/publications/publications/1201015.pdf [hereinafter strategic Response]. 285 id. at 9. 296Id. 287Id. 2887d. 289Id. 299 Harrould-Kolieb, Acid Test, supra note 281, at 8. 291 Id. 292 id. 293Id. 2941d. 295Id. 32 Figure 1: The Chemistry of Ocean Acidification Atmospheric CO, 4 <I III i,I '1 CO, } H2O d i+1dmg, cubonrc E:a,bov[e HCO�'' ! tiori u~t. w, Cal, { CO W4U'.tpItG418U' kfym 3 As COr Is absorbed bythe atmosphere it bonds wah sea water forming carbonic acid. Th s acid then releases a bicarbonate Ion and a hydrogen Ion. The hydrogen Ion bonds with free carbonate ions in the water forming another bicarbonate ion. This free carbonate would otherwise be available to marine animals for making calcium carbonate shells and skeletons. Ocean acidity has been rising at a geologically unprecedented rate. Currently, acidity is rising at least 100 times faster than at any other period during the last 100,000 years.191 There have been periods during which levels of atmospheric CO2 concentration and ocean acidity were higher than today's levels. However, the rate at which these levels were reached was much slower than the rate at which atmospheric CO2 and oceanic pH are changing today.297 For example, around 55 million years ago, during the Paleocene -Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased to around 1800 ppm and the pH of the oceans declined by around 0.45 units over roughly 5000 years.298 This rise in pH resulted in an extinction event, during which "about half of benthic foraminifera (tiny shelled protists) species went extinct over a 1000-year period."299 Today, the rate at which acidity is rising is nearly ten times faster than during the period leading up the PETM extinction event 300 The danger here is that the rate of acidification may outpace the natural capacity of the ocean to buffer the excess CO2 levels- 301 Scientists have projected that if anthropogenic CO2 emissions continue at present 'Id. at 7 '9'Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification, Scientific Summary of Ocean Acidification in Washington State Marine Waters, 9, (2012), https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/publications/documents/1201016.pdf [hereinafter Scientific Summary of Ocean Acidification). 2" Id.; P. Jardine, Patterns in Paleontology: The Paleocene -Eocene Thermal Maximum, Paleontology Online (Jan. 10, 2011), http://Www.palaeontologyonline.com/articles/2011/the-paleocene-eocene-thermal-maximum. 299 Scientific Summary of Ocean Acidification, supra note 297, at 9. 300Id. 301 id. 33 trends 'Such pH may drop another 0.5 units by 2100, a threefold decrease from pre -industrial times. Such a drop would also bring oceanic pH outside the natural range of variation.303 ions. 304 The oceans have a limited ability to buffer increases in the availability of hydrogen As the concentration of hydrogen ions increases due to increased concentrations of atmospheric CO2, more of these newly available hydrogen ions react with carbonate ions to form decrease in pH.306 . bicarbonate.30This process, lrnown as a carbonate buffer, then reduces the total resulting However, as more and more carbonate is consumed through the natural dissolution of CO2i and through the buffering processes, "[t]he capacity of the buffer to restrict PH changes diminishes as increased amounts of CO2 are absorbed by the oceans.s3D7 As a result, as carbonate ions become less readily available, the oceans will acidify at increasingly rapid rates.30s Many important marine organisms, including shellfish and corals, require sufficient concentrations of carbonate and bicarbonate in order to build 'structures such as shells, out of calcium carbonate (CaCO3).309 Calcium carbonate will dissolve in s saturated with carbonate ions.310 eawater unless the water is Calcium carbonate also becomes more soluble as temperature decreases and pressure increases .31 1 As a result; as depth increases, causing temperature to decrease and pressure to increase, calcium carbonate becomes more soluble .312These variables (carbonate ion concentrations, temperature, and pressure) interact to create a natural barrier, known as a saturation horizon, below which calcium carbonate will dissolve, and above which calcium carbonate is capable of forming.313 As more and more anthropogenic CO2 has dissolved, the carbonate ionconcentrationhas decreased causing the saturation horizon for calcium carbonate to rise. To survive, calcium carbonate -dependent species must live above the saturation horizon.315 As the saturation horizon rises, it poses a greater threat to calcium carbonate -dependent marine species by encroaching upon their habitat.316 The shoaling, or rising, of calcite and aragonite (two forms of calcium carbonate) saturation horizons poses a real threat to the world's coral reefs. Scientists have found that "where coral reefs occur, carbonate -ion concentrations over the past 420,000 years have not Sot The Royal Society, Ocean Acidification Due to Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, vi (2005), hbtto://royalsociety.Orgt /media/Royal_8ociety_Content/policy/publications/2005/9634.pdf. Id. 304Id. at 6. 305Id 3067d. 307 Id. at 6. 308Id. 309Id. at 10. 310'Id. 311Id. 312Id. 313Id. 314Id. 315Id. at 11. 316Id. 34 fallen below 240 mmol kg '."317 Today, "carbonate -ion concentrations (-210 mmol kg ) [are] lower than at any other time during the past 420,000 years.s318 Today, coral reefs are not found in waters with aragonite concentrations below 3.25 mmol kg 1,311 As the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide increases, the potentially viable coral habitats decrease.320 t e ability current rate at which carbonate ion concentrations are decreasing is likelThe 2y to outpace th of the world's corals to adapt to, let alone mitigate against, the changes.3 Over the past 136 years (from 1870-2006) atmospheric CO2 changed 136 times faster than during the previous 420,000 years, and temperature changed 70 times faster.322 he As t present and projected future rates of change "dwarf even those ofthe 'ice age transiti As is likely that [the rate of these] changes will exceed the capacity of most organisms to adapt 023 Given that "[c]oral reefs are among the most biologically diverse and economically important ecosystems on the planet, providing ecosystem services that are vital to human societies and industries through fisheries, coastal protection, building materials, new biochemical compounds, and tourism," the impact of their loss on the planet cannot be overstated.324 The impacts of ocean acidification to Alaska's fisheries are likely to be similarly devastating (See Section VI.B.4.b). 7. Agricultural and Forest Losses Changes in water supply and water quality resulting from climate change will impact agriculture in the United States.3zs Additionally, increased heat and associated issues such as pests, c3o�3 diseases, and weather extremes, will all impact crop and livestock production and quality. For example, climate change in the United States has produced warmer summers, enabling the mountain pine beetle to produce two generations of beetles in a single summer season, where it had previously only been able to produce one. In Alaska, the spruce beetle is maturing in one year when it had previously taken two years.327 The expansion of the forest beetle population has killed millions of hectares of trees across the United States and Canada and ues .328 resulted in millions of dollars lost from decreased timber and tourism Unitreveed States 31 t 0. Hoegh-Guldberg et al., Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate 1757Change and Ocean Acidification, 318 SCIENCE 31sld., 1757 (2007), http://science.sciencemag.org/contentl3l8/5857/1737 M. 3111d. at 1740. 320Id. "Id. at 1738. 32? ld. 3231d. at 1737. 3241d. 325USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 161; see United States Department of State ("USDS"), 2014 Climate Action Report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change 154-55 (2014), https://unfccc.int/files/national_reports/annex_i_ natcom/submitted_natcom/application/pdf/2014_u.s._climate_actio n report%5B 1 /`5Drev.pdf, [bereinafter Climate Action Report]. 326USDS, Climate Action Report, supra note 325, at 154-55. 327 U.S. Climate Change Science Program ("USCCSP" ), Weather and Climate Extreme in a Changing Climate, Regions of Focus. North America, Hawaii, Caribbean, and U.S. Pacific Islands, 15 (June 2008) https://www.climateconimunication.orglwp-content/uploads/2012/01/Climateextremes.pdf, [hereinafter Weather and Climate Extremes]. 329 Id. 35 Agriculture is extremely susceptible to climate changes and higher temperatures generally reduce yields of desirable crops while promoting pest and weed329 proliferation.330 Global climate change is predicted to decrease crop yields, increase crop prices, decrease worldwide calorie availability, and by 2050 increase child malnutrition by 20%.331 Climate change threatens global food security and so any effort g to mitigate global warming is effectively promoting a secure food supply.332 8. Human Health Impacts Combustion of fossil fuels and resulting climate change are already contributing to an increase in asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke, heat -related morbidity and mortality, food -borne diseases, and neurological diseases and disorders.333 Climate change has been called "the most serious threat to the public health of the 21 st century."334 Droughts, floods, heat waves and other extreme weather events linked to climate change also lead to a myriad of health issues .335The World Health Organization has stated that "[llong-term climate change threatens to exacerbate today's problems while undermining tomorrow's health systems, infrastructure, social protection systems, and supplies of food, water, and other ecosystem products and services that are vital for human health.s3 Climate change is not only expected to affect the basic requirements for maintaining health (clean air and water, sufficient food, and adequate shelter) but it is likely to present new challenges for controlling infectious disease and even "halt or reverse the progress that the global public health community is now making against many of these diseases."337 Children are especially vulnerable to adverse health impacts due to climate change.338 311USCCSP & USDA, The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity, in Synthesis and Assessment Product 43, 59 (May 2008), http://www.usda.gov/oce/climate-change/SAP4_3/CCSPFinalReport.pdf ('Many weeds respond more positively to increasing COz than most cash crops .... Recent research also suggests that glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide in the United States, loses its efficacy on weeds grown at CO2 levels that likely will occur in the coming decades."). 33oNelson, eta L, Int'l Food Policy Research Inst., Food Policy Report: Climate Change. Impacts on Agriculture and Costs of Adaptation, vii (Oct. 2009), _ . ,,,,,,,vo,,,_c„_„R,.,cuirme—ano Costs_of Adaptation.pdf. "Id. at ix ("Climate change will pose huge challenges to food -security efforts. Hence, any activity that supports cultural adaptation also enhances food security."). See Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School, Climate Change Futures: Health, Ecological, and Economic Dimensions (Nov. 2005), http://ccsi.iccip.net/ccf-yepOrt_oct_06.pdf,• USGCRP, Climate Change Impacts, supra note 118, at 221 28. 334 Casey Crandell, Climate Action Holds Potential for Massive Improvements in Public Health, PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (June 22, 2015), http://www.psr.org/blog/climate-action-holds-potential-improvement 3s- public-health html. 5Id. 36 World Health Organization, Atlas of Health and Climate, 4 (Oct. 2012), htttp://www. who.inttglobalchange/publications/atlash eport/en. World Health Organization, Protecting Health from Climate Change: Connecting Science, Policy, and people, 2 g 009), http://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/reports/9789241598880/en/index.html. Id. at 2, 6, 11-12, 16-17. 36 Recent studies have highlighted the adverse mental health effects that result from climate change. One study noted that as many as 200 million Americans are expected to have mental health problems as a result of climate change and added -that mental health disorders are likely to be one of the most dangerous indirect health effects of climate change,"' The mental health effects can include elevated levels of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and a distressing sense of loss.340 The impacts of these mental health effects include chronic depression, increased incidences of suicide, substance abuse, and greater social disruptions like increased violence.341 9. National Security and Global Politics The changing climate also raises national security concerns, as "climate change will add to tensions even in stable regions of the world. The U.S. Department of Defense has acknowledged the severity of climate change and its connections to national security.343 The Quadrennial Defense Review classified climate change as a "threat multiplier.i344 Specifically, "Pentagon leaders have identified three main ways that climate change will affect security: accelerating instability in parts of the world wracked by drought, famine, andclimate-relatedectsecsecurity: migrations; threatening U.S. military bases in and Western states or on vulnerable coastlines; and increasing the need for U.S. forces to respond to major humanitarian vulnerable aste coastlines; The United States may experience an additional need to accept immigrant and refugee populations as droughts increase and food production declines in other countries;346 Increased extreme weather events (such as hurricanes) will also present an increased strain on foreign aid and call for military forces.347 For instance, by 2025, 40% of the world's population will be living in countries experiencing significant water shortages, while sea -level rise could cause displacement of tens, or even hundreds, of millions of people. B. Climate Change is Already Occurring in the State of Alaska and Will Continue to Significantly Impact the State in the Future. ... Kevin Coyle, and Lise Van Susteren, The Psychological Effects of Global Warming on the United States: And Why the US. Mental Health Care System is not Adequately Prepared, NAT. WILDLnE FED N. CLIMATE EDUCATION REPORT (Feb. 2012), https://www.nwforg/—/media/PDFs/ Global - REPORT 3 23.ashx. Id. at 7. 34' Nick Watts, et al., Health and Climate Change: Policy Responses to Protect Public Health, LANCET (June 23, 2015), htip://thelancet.corn/joumals/lanceUarticle/PBS0140-6736(15)60854-6/abstract. 342 The CNA Corp., National Security and the Threat of Climate Change 7 (2007), https://www.cna.org/cna_files/pdf/national%20security%20and%20the%20threat%20of%20chmate%20change.pdf; see also CNA Military Advisory Board, National Security and the Accelerating Risks of Climate Change (2014), hnps://www.cna.orglcna_files/pdf/MAB_5-8-14.pdf. Keith Johnson, A Clear and present Danger, FOREIGN POLICY 3 (May 6, 2014), http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/05/06/a_clear and 3ssues resent danger ("Environmental issues, energy "-they are all connected, and they are all integrated into our national security 34sid. "). Thompson, Climate Change: The Evidence and Our Options, supra note 244, at 3. 346 The CNA Corp., National Security and the Threat of Climate Change, supra note 342, at 7. 347 id. 341 Id. at 16. 37 "There is little doubt that Alaskans are feeling the effects of climate change more than anyone else in our nation. Regardless of whether these changes are caused solely by human activity, we must take steps to protect people in the Arctic." Senator Ted Stevens, July 11, 2007319 The State of Alaska has become an example of what the world might look like if it continues to warm: "Alaska is a bellwether for climate change: It's where we look to see the earliest indicators of where the rest of the planet will be shortly.„35e Due to the state's size, location, and diverse ecosystems, Alaska has experienced some of the most substantial impacts of climate change 3s1 The effects of global warming in Alaska are significant, varied, and interrelated, impacting surface and water temperatures, sea ice, glaciers, permafrost, forests, agriculture, wildfires, ocean acidification, fish, wildlife, and human health.112 As former Governor Sarah Palin stated, "Climate change is not just an environmental issue. It r also a social, cultural, and economic issue important to all Alaskans."353 Alaska Is On the Front Lines and Has Alread Ex erienced Significant and Rapid Warmine Average annual temperatures in Alaska and the Arctic have "risen almost twice e rate as th the rest of the world in the past few decades."3sa Alaska's average annual temperatures have . increased 2-3 °C since the 19501s, and as high as 6' °C in the winter, with "substantial year-to- year and regional variability.„355 According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Alaska was as high as "eleven degrees [Fahrenheit] over the 349 Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission, Final Commission Report, 3 (March 17, 2008), https://climatechange.alaska.90v/aag/docs/097F I7502.pdf. 350 Ria Misra, Alaska is on Track for an Absurdly Hot Year, GizMopo (May 6, 2016), http://gizmodo.com/alaska-is- on-track-for-an-absurdly-hot-year-1775179194. 351 Id. 312 See U.S. Global Change Research Program, Alaska: Regional Highlights from the Third National Climate Assessment (2014), http://www,globalchange.g 313 See ov/sites/globalchange/files/Regional_AK_V2.pdf State of Alaska Administrative Order No. 238, September 17, 2007, httP://www.gov.state.ak.us/admin- orders/238 html [hereinafter "Order 238" or "the Order"]; infra section VI. Susan Joy Hassol, ACIA, Impacts of a Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, 14 (2004), http://Www.acia.uaf.edu/pas/overview html; see also U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Study, Baseline and Projected Future Carbon Storage and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Ecosystems in Alaska, 17 (2016), https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/pubfcation/ppl826; see also U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Impacts in Alaska (Jan. 19, 2017), https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-impacts/chmate-impacts-alaska :html; see also Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, CLIMATE NEXUS (2015), http://climatenexus.org/leamhegional- impacts/alaska-climate-change-ground-zero; see also Megan Gannon, Arctic is Heating up Twice as Quickly as Rest of World, LIvE SCIENCE (Dec. 17, 2014), http://www.livescience.cotn/49172-arctic-heats-up-twice-as-quickly.htmi; see also Cindy Shogan, Big Oil makes a push for risky and reckless Arctic drilling, THE HILL (July 18, 2016), http://thchill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/288073-big-oil-makes-a-push-for-risky-and-reckless- arctic. ass F. Stuart Chapin, 2 Sarah F. Trainor, Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment: Chapter 22: Alaska, US GLOBAL CHANCE RESEARCH PROGRAM 514 36, 516 (2014), http://www.cakex.org/sites/defaulUfiles/documents/NCA3_ Full_ Report 22_Alaska LowRes.pdf.; see also Yereth Rosen, What Climate Change looks Like in Alaska Now, ALAsKA DISPATCH NEWS (Aug. 29, 2015), http://Www.adn. com/environment/article/alaska-climate-story/2015/08/29. [temperature] norm in 2016."3s6 Recent findings by the Alaska Climate Research Center show an increase in average annual winter temperature for the state from 1949 to 2016 of 6.7 degrees Fahrenheit, with increases as high as 9.9 degrees in some areas.357 "As the climate to warm, average annual temperatures are projected to increase an additional c to ate ate cothe middle of this century.""' by Less three years ago, in 2014, Alaskans experienced the wannest year on record since the 1920's.3sv NOAA's ESRL 20th Century Reanalysis, which constructs a global climate history going backs to 1871, "show[ed] no year in that time period [from 1871 ] as warm as 2014 for Alaska. According to the National Weather Service in Alaska, a number of cities across the state found 2014 was their warmest year on record as well.361 The warming trend continued unabated in 201z5 with many cities, including Juneau, again experiencing record -breaking annual temperatures. In July of 2015, Juneau had just recently "finished its ninth consecutive month of warmer -than -normal temperatures and [was] on pace for its warmest year on record."363 Indeed, Juneau's warmer -than -normal 2015 temperatures continued not only for Juneau (resulting in record low snowfall in January 2016),364 but for the state as a whole. Alaska again experienced unprecedented warming in 2016, "shattering average temperature records that in some cases have been kept for more than a cen „36s fury. As in the previous year, many communities experienced their highest average temperature ever with many not only breaking previous records, but doing so by "huge margins. In the 2015-2016 winter, "for the first winter in the historical record, no community in Alaska reached a low of inter,-50Ts367 Because of warm weather and associated lack of snowfall organizers of reached Idlow o sled dog race "had to cart in snow" from Fairbanks; the previous year they had to move the race 200 miles north due to warm weather and lack of snow.36 Tellingly, 2016 marked the first year that Nome's average 366 Mars, supra note 350; see also James Brooks, Juneau on Pace for Warmest Year Ever, Beating Last Year's Warmest Year Ever, JUNEAU EMPIRE (July 7, 2016), http://juneauempire.com/Iocal/2016-07-06/Juneau-pace- warmest-year-ever-beating-last-years-warmest-year-ever. Alaska Climate Research Center, Temperature Changes in Alaska, http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/ClimTrends/Change/TempChange.html. 3sv U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Impacts in Alaska, supra note 354. Teresa Sundmark, Spring Came Too Early in Alaska, AL13UQUERQUE J. (June 24, 2016), http://www.abgjournal.com/797262/spring-came-too-early-in-alaska.htmi; see also Brian Brettschneider, 2014 was Warmest Year on Record for Much of Alaska, ALASKA DISPATCH NEWS (January 5, 2015), http://www.adn.com/weaier/article/indications-suggest-2014-will-go-down-warmest-year-record-some-alaska- locales/2015/01/06. 360 Brettschneider, supra note 359. 361 1d. 362 James Brooks, Juneau on Pace for Warmest Year Ever, Beating Last Year's Warmest Year Ever, JUNEAU EMPIRE (July 7, 2016), http://juneauempire.con-Aocal/2016-07-06/Juneau-pace-warmest-year-ever-beating-last-years- warmest-year-ever. 363 id. 364 Id. 365 Audrey Rubel & Rick Thoman, NOAA, 2016 Shatters Record for Alaska's Warmest Year (Jana 10, 2017), https://www.climate.gov/news-features/features/2016-shatters-record-alaskas-warmest-year. 366 Id. 36' Tom Di Liberto, Where, Oh Where, Has Alaska's Winter Gone?, NOAA (March 11, 2016), https://www. climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/where-oh-where-has-alaska's-winter-gone. 368 Id. W annual temperature was above freezing.369 Further, according to Alaska -based climatologist, Brian Brettschneider, in summer of 2016 Deadhorse reached a record high of 85 degrees, which is now the "hottest temperature on record anywhere in the state within 50 miles of the Arctic Ocean.s370 When such warming happens, the state can change "sweepingly and systematically.071 Indeed, this Warming has caused frozen rivers to break up earlier than before, shifted the growing season earlier than before, practically caused a statewide drought,372 melted sea ice and permafroSt,373influenced seasonal migration of birds and other animals, altered the habitats of both ecologically important and endangered species, and affected ocean Currents 374 Dubbed the "Arctic Amplification," these warmer temperatures also feed a loop, creating further global warming through a "self -reinforcing process that warms the Arctic and subarctic far faster than the rest of the world.'>375 When "bright and reflective ice melts," the ocean darkens, and in the process "amplifies the warming trend because the ocean surface absorbs more heat from the Sun than the surface of snow and ice."376 In other words, a reduction of sea ice also reduces EarthhIs albedo: "the lower the albedo, the more a surface absorbs heat from sunlight rather than reflecting it back to space.i377 Additionally, warming in Alaska links to "extreme weather events in the rest of the world."37s 2. Temoeratures in Alaska are Projected to Continue to Increase Temperatures in Alaska are projected to increase by an additional 2°F to 4°F by 2050 and "as much as 8 degrees Celsius in the Arctic and Western Alaska Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) by the end of this century.„379 According to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, temperatures could increase up to "3-5°C over the land areas and up to 7°C over the 369 Audrey Rubel & Rick Thoman, NOAA, 2016 Shatters Record for Alaska's Warmest year (Jan. 10, 2017), https://www.climate.gov/news-features/features/2016-shatters-record-alaskas-warmest-year. 370 Jon Erdman, Deadhorse, Alaska, Sets State Record High For Any Arctic Ocean Location, WEATHER CHANNEL (July 15, 2016), https://weather.cOm/news/climate/news/deadhorse-alaska-record-high-arctic-ocean july2Ol6. 37. Chris Mooney, 5 Ways Climate Change is Already Affecting Alaska, CHICAGO TRIBUNE (August 31, 2015), http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/`nationworld/ct-alaska-climate-change-20150831-story html. 312 Mists, supra note 350. 373 Daniel Cordalis & Dean B. Suagee, The Effects of Climate Change on American Indian andAlaska Native Tribes; 22 NAT. RESOURCES & ENV'T 45, 47 (2008), cordalis_suagee.authcheckdam.pdf. -------ru-„-a.+i..n.urn,-resources— Lai - winter/me win08 374 Hezel, P. J. et al., Projected Decline in Spring Snow Depth on Arctic Sea ice Caused by Progressively Later Autumn Open Ocean Freeze -Up this Century, GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS 39 (Sept. 15, 2012) L17505, available athttp://onlinelibrary-wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2012GLO52794/epdf. 37s Rosen, supra note 355. 376 Arctic Amplification: Image of the Day, NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY (2009), http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=81214. 377 Id. 376 Rosen, supra note 355. 37 U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Study, Baseline and Projected Future Carbon Storage and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Ecosystems in Alaska, supra note 354; see also Chapin, supra note 355, at 516; see also Scenarios Network for Alaska + Arctic Planning ("SNAP"), Climate Projections Map Analysis Tool, https://www.snap.uaf edu/sites/all/modules/snap_ mp_tool/maps.html. 40 oceans.,e380Further, winter temperatures are expected to increase significantly more, up to "4- 7°C over the land areas and 7-10°C over the oceans."381 Increased temperatures will cause more extreme impacts across the State of Alaska, as well as the rest of the world. 3. Biosphere Impacts (a) Melting Sea Ice Climate change has impacted both the "extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice," so much so that "the past seven years [2007-2014] have seen the lowest sea ice extents ever recorded."382 In fact, by 2014, Arctic sea ice cover had declined by 50 percent from the beginning of satellite records in 1979. This means that an expanse of sea ice, about twice the size of Texas, "has vanished over the past 30 years, and the rate of that retreat has accelerated " 384 The volume of late summer arctic sea8 ice is now estimated to be only "one -fifth of what it was in 1980," when modeling data began. 2016 continued this trend, bringing some of the most extreme reductions in sea ice seen to date. According to the National Snow & Ice Data Center, June 2016 averaged the "lowest [sea ice extent] in the satellite record for the month." 386 The sea ice extent in June 2016 was 100,000 square miles below the 2010 record low, and 1.36 million square kilometers "below the 1981 to 2010 long-term average."387 In fact, the past three years have shown consecutively new record lows for maximum extent arctic sea ice388, demonstrating accelerating losses as the earth warms. Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the alarming trend in annual loss of sea ice.389 Figure 2: sao Hassol, supra note 354, at 28. set Id. sax Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354. 38. Chapin, supra note 355, at 516. 384 Suzanne Goldenberg, Arctic Sea Ice Crashes to Record Low for June, GUARDIAN (July 7, 2016), https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/07/arctic-sea-ice-crashes-to-record-low-for june. ass Hannah Hickey; European Satelite Confirms UW Numbers: Arctic Ocean is On Thin Ice, UW TODAY (Feb. 13, 2013), http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/02/13/European-satellite-confirms-uw-numbers-arctic-ocean-is-on- thin-ice. sac U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, Extent Loss Slows, Then Merges Back into Fast Lane (July 6, 2016), 38tttp://nsidc.orgtarcticseaicenews/2016/07/extent-toss-slows-then-merges-back-into-fast-lane. Id. sas NASA, 2015 Arctic Sea Ice Maximum Annleal Extent Is Lowest On Record (Mar. 19, 2015), https.,//www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/2015-arctic-sea-ice-maximum-annual-extent-is-lowest-on-record; NASA, 2016 Arctic Sea Ice Wintertime Extent Hits Another Record Low, (Mar. 28, 2016), http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/2016-arctic-sea-ice-wintertime-extent-hits-another-record-low; NASA, Sea Ice Extent Sinks to Record Lows at Both Poles (March 22, 2017), https://www.nasa.goy/feature/goddard/2017/sea-ice-extent-sinks-to-record-lows-at-both-poles. ... U.S. NATIONAL SNOW & ICE DATA CENTER, Extent Loss Slows, Then Merges Back into Fast Lane (July 6, 2016), httpJ/nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2016/07/extent-loss-slows-then-merges-back-into-fast-lane. 41 Figure 3: M Arctic Sea Ice Extent (Area of ocean with at least 15%sea ice) Jun Jul Averaae Monthly Art -fir co= 1rc r-*-. u z Aug 390 rear 391 Such rapid sea ice loss is "primarily a result of rising temperatures,"392 and further amplifies global warming.393 Usually, sea ice acts as a shield between the Arctic Ocean and the 390 id. 391 Id. 392 Chapin, supra note 355, at 519. 393 Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354. 42 atmosphere, and prevents the ocean from absorbing the Sun's energy.394 But, as the sea ice melts, "there is more open ocean to absorb this energy.s395 he additional heat in the ocean leads to more melting ice, which further allows the ocean water to absorb even more hest.396 Because "polar ice caps help to regulate global temperature by reflecting sunlight back into space," Arctic sea ice plays an important role in the global climate system .397 Increased temperatures as well as sea ice loss have already started to influence "atmospheric circulation and patterns Of precipitation.i398 Further, ice loss has devastating consequences for polar bears, ice -dependent seals, walruses, and the Alaska Natives for whom these animals are a primary food source.399 As sea ice declines, populations of seals are projected to decline, which results in smaller polar bears, which prey on seals as a primary food source. 400 Further, it is estimated that sea ice loss will result in "a loss of 2/3 of the polar bear Population, and force the remaining bears into a smaller, iceless area.i401 Ice loss has also caused a threshold change in walrus ecology, as walrus depend on sea ice "as a platform for giving birth, nursing, and resting between dives to the seafloor, where they feed.i402 This ice loss force walruses to live ashore, causing "increased competition for food and ...stampedes when animals are startled, resulting in trampling of calves.s403 As sea ice melts its accumulates less build-up and is thus "more vulnerable to further melting,"404 further exacerbating the problems caused to wildlife and humans alike by loss of sea ice. Ice loss has also resulted in flooding and erosion of coastal villages.401 Further, loss of sea ice exposes coastal villages to increased destruction from high energy storms.406 Further increase in temperatures is projected to melt the remaining arctic sea ice by the 2030'S,407 which will carry enormous environmental, economic, and social implications.'" 394 Id. 395 Id, 3% Id. 397 Arctic Sea Ice Decline, Weather Underground, https://www.wunderground.com/climate/Sealce. 39s Chapin, supra note 355, at 517. 399 See id. 400 Id, at 518; see also Margie Ann Gibson & Sallie B. Schullinger, Answers from the Ice Edge: The Consequences of Climate Change on Life in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, Greenpeace U.S.A. (1998), https://www.greenpeace.de/sites/www._O.pdf greenpeace.de/files/answersfrom icedge 40' Arctic Sea Ice Decline, supra note 397. 402 Chapin, supra note 355, at 517. 403 Id. 404Id. 40s Arctic Sea Ice Decline, supra note 397. ' 406 A. I. Gould et al., Guide to Projected Shoreline Positions in the Alaska Shoreline Change Tool, ALASKA DIVISION OF GEOLGGrcAL AND GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS MISC PUB 158 (2015) http://pubs.dggsalaskagov.us/webpubs/dggs/mp/text/mp 158.pdf. 407 Chapin, supra note 355; see also John Vidal, Arctic Expert Predicts Final Collapse of Sea Ice within Four Years, GUARDIAN (Sept. 17, 2012), https://www.thegudrdian.com/env ronmentt2ol2/sep/17/arctic-collapse-sea-ice; see also Arctic Sea Ice Decline, supra note 397, 406 Yereth Rosen, Warming Climate Disrupts Alaska Ntiaves' Lives, GLOBAL CORAL REEF ALLIANCE (April 16, 2004 htip://Www.globalcoral.org/ oldgcra/Warming"/o20CIimate%2ODisrupts"/u20AIaska%42ONatives'%2OLives.htm; see also D. Notz & J Stroeve, Observed Arctic Sea -Ice Loss Directly Follows Anthropogenic CO2 Emission, SCIENCE (Nov. 3, 2016), aag2345, DOI: 10. 1 126/science.aag2345. 43 Impacts of an ice -free Arctic "could be a trigger for abrupt, cataclysmic climate change in the future" to both local Alaskan and global environments.ao Continued sea ice decline will result in more extreme weather patterns, a decline in marine life populations, flooding and erosion. (b) Melting Glaciers Although Alaska has some of the world's largest glaciers, it is also home to the "fastest loss of glacier ice on Earth," which is "primarily a result from rising temperatures." 10 Alaska's of mountain glaciers hold "1 percent of the world's glacial ice."a1I However, flue rapid loss la Alaska's glaciers have accounted for "nearly one third of the current observed sea level rise."alz Melted glaciers from around the world "contributed as much to global sea rise as the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets combined from 2003 to 2009.11413 The data shows that the loss e glacial ice is only accelerating as climate change continues unabated. In early 2012, data revealed that Alaska's glaciers were melting at the rate of 46 billion tons of ice per year. ala Only three years later, scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks found that Alaska's glaciers were then losing "75 billion tons of ice a year."415 Roughly 20% of glacial mass in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve was lost between 1987 and 2007 alone.a 6 Because warming temperatures have led to a decline in snow deposition on glaciers, "[tjhe majority of glaciers in Southeast Alaska are thought to be retreating." 17 A 2015 study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that 9% of the 109 mapped glaciers in the Ahkhm Mountains of southwestern Alaska had already disappeared.4 8 The study concluded that at this 09 Arctic Sea Ice Decline, supra note 397. 411 Chapin, supra note 355, at 519; see also Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 397. 472 Rosen, supra note 355; see also Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 397. Chapin, supra note 355; see also Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 397; see also Rosen, supra note 355. 413 Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 397. 414 Doug O'Harra, Alaska Glaciers Losing 46 Billion Tons of Ice Each Year, ALASKA DISPATCH NEWS (Feb. 12, 2012), https://Www.adn.com/science/article/alaska-glaciers-losing-46-billion-tons-ice-each-year/2012/02/13; Graphic: Dramatic Ice Melt, NASA (last updated August 15, 2017), http://climate nasa.gov/climate resources/4 Forty-six gigatons of ice from Alaskan glaciers was lost on average each year from 2003 to 2010."). s C.F. Larson, et al., Surface Melt Dominates Alaska Glacier Mass Balance, 42 GEOPHYS RES. LETT. 5902-08 (2015), http://onlinelibiaTy.wiley.com/doi/i0.1002/2015GL064349/fall; see also Rosen, supra note 355; see also Yereth Rosen, Remnant Glaciers in Western Alaska Expected to Disappear by Century's End, ALASKA DISPATCH NEws (Feb. 7, 2015), http://www.adn.com/science/article/remant-glaciers-westem-alaska-are-expected-disappear- centurys-end/2015/02/07; see also Mooney, supra note 371; see also Michael Casey, Alaska Glaciers Sending 75 Billion Tons of Water into Sea Each Year, CBS NEWS (June 18, 2015), http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alaska- glaciers-sending-75-billion-tons-of-water-into-sea-each-year. 411 C. Moore, D. Young, J. Shearer, Evaluating Effects of Aunospheric and Terrestrial Disturbance in a Southwest Alaska Lake, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, SOUTHWEST ALASKA NETWORK (2014), hops://science.naturenps.90v/im/units/swan/assets/dots/reports/presentatiOns/Symposium2Ol l/posters/CMoore S WAN_ AtmGeoDistLakes_SWAK_20111101.pdf — °Ir J.E. Cherry, et al., Impacts of Climate Change and Variability on Hydropower in Southeast Alaska: Planning for a Robust Energy Future, NOAA FISHERIES 21 (2010), htstps://alaskafisheriesnoaa.gov/sites/default/files/cev_hydro se.pdf. Patrick Walsh et al., Historical Retreat of Alpine Glaciers in the Ahklun Mountains, Western Alaska, U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT (2015), http://wwwfwspubs.org/doi/i0.3996/012014-JFWM-008?code=ufws- site# i8. GM' melting rate, all of the Ahklun glaciers will be "extinguished by the end of the current century.419 For example, the Columbia Glacier has lost "about half its total thickness and volume" since the 1980's.420 By 2014, the glacier had retreated more than 20 kilometers to the north. 421 The glacier will likely retreat an additional 13 kilometers by 2030.4� Additionally, Bear Glacier, pictured below, has also dramatically retreated two miles from 2 A d tonal compared to a retreat of one mile from 1950's to 1990's.42a2007, Additionally, as of 2005, Muir Glacier, pictured below, had retreated more than 50 kilometers, which meant that the glacier was "no longer visible."421 .419Id. 420 Adam Volland, Columbia Glacier, Alaska, NASA (July 2, 2014), - halmHearthobservatory nasa.gov/FeatureMorldOfChange/columbia 421 Id. 422Id. 42' Kate Zerrenner, Is Alaska, Another Oil State, the Next Frontier for Climate Action?, ENvIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND (June 28, 2016), https://www.edf.org/blogt2Ol6/06/28/alaska-another-oil-state-next-frontier-climate-action. 424 Mauri Pelto, Bear Glacier, Kenai Alaska Recedes, New Lake Formed, A1viER[cAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION (Aug. 28, 2010), http:Alogs.agu.org/fromaglaciersperspective/2010/08/28/bear-glacier-kenai-alaska-recedes-new-lake- formed. 4" Repeat Photography of Alaskan Glaciers, USGS (last modified May 30, 2012), https://www2.usgs.gov/climate_landuse/glaciers/repeat_photography. asp. !Fj Retreating glaciers have led to rising sea levels, and changes to marine salinity, currents, and ocean circulation, flooding, and even landslides. In July 2016, part of a 6,500 foot hi h peak gave way on the west side of Lamplugh Glacier, located in Glacier Bay National Park. 28 An estimate from the "Lamont -Doherty Earth Observatory suggested the slide involved more than 132 million tons of material," and produced tremors registering 5.5 on the Richter scale.429 As warming causes more glacial melt, increased landslides are likely continue.430 Glacial melt resulting from anthropogenic climate change also has profound impacts on freshwater and marine aquatic resources, including river systems, with associated resulting impacts to wildlife, ecology, drinking water, fisheries, and downstream hydrologic resources. In mid-2016, "the retreat.of a very large glacier in Canada's Yukon territory led to the rerouting of largest lake, and channeling freshwater to the Pacific Oceits vast stream of meltwater from one river system to another — cutting down flow to the Yukon's an south of Alaska, rather than to the Bering Sea." 431 Scientists estimate that the changes to these river systems is irreversible.412 Glacial melt carries `rock flour,' the remains of bedrock ground up by the glacier. This material is rich in minerals like iron, which, when deposited in the Gulf of Alaska, promotes phytoplankton growth. Dust also carries iron to ocean waters; visible plumes of dust from the 42s Muir Glacier, U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, https://nsidc.org/arc/adopt-a-glacier/tnuir.htmi 4n David Stauth, Massive Amounts of Fresh Water, Glacial Melt Pouring into the Gulf of Alaska, OREGON STATE UN1vERsrrY (Mar. 19, 2015), http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2015/ melt-pouring-gulf-alaska. mar/massive-amounts-fresh-water-glaci 42' Henry Fountain, As Glaciers Melt in Alaska, Landslides Follow, N.Y. TiMEs (July 5, 2016), http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/06/science/alaska-landslides-glaciers-melt html. 429 Id. 430 Id. 431 Chris Mooney, For the First Time on Record, Human -caused Climate Change Has Rerouted an Entire River, WAsinNGTox POST (Apr. 17, 2017), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy- environment/wp/2017/04/17/far-the-first-time-on-record-human-caused-climate-change-has-rerouted-an-entire- river. 4327d. M Kenai Peninsula to Yakatat have been captured by NOAA satellites.433 Glacier melt in Alaska is also likely to expose the sulfide -bearing rock abundant throughout the state;434 exposure of such minerals combined with precipitation can lead to stream " pH and trace metals concentrations comparable to acid mine drainage."435 Glacier melt in Alaska has profound impacts on countless natural systems: it affects in biological communities such as salmon and herring; it changes freshwater inputs to streams; it drives the Alaska Coastal Current that moves heat, nutrients, and organisms northward, providing the basis for Alaska fisheries; it carries organic materials and metals that boost phytoplankton; and it releases mercury and other contaminants deposited from the atmosphere onto glaciers.436 As a result of these and other connections between glaciers and Alaska's complex natural systems, the retreat and possible loss of Alaska's glaciers due to climate change has profound, cascading impacts to Alaska's natural heritage, Alaska's inhabitants, and upon the industry and tourism reliant upon those systems. (c) Thawing Permafrost Alaska is unique from most of the rest of the country in having permafrost, which is "frozen ground that restricts water drainage and therefore strongly influences landscape water balance and the design and maintenance of infrastructure.s437 Among other important functions, permafrost stabilizes the round and thus "absorbs the impacts of ocean waves and protects against coastal erosion.."4 s However, the buffer zone that permafrost provides is disappearing, "and without it coastal erosion could accelerate and threaten critical infrastructure ."43 "Permafrost lays underneath about 80 percent of Alaska's surface," and over 70 percent of that ice is "vulnerable to land sinkage due to the steady rate of permafrost thaw.„440 Alaska has already started to experience the impacts of thawing permafrost. "Generally over the last 20 to 30 years, permafrost temperatures have increased 1 to 2 degrees C.s441 In fact, rising temperatures have already led to permafrost loss in Fairbanks, which has "damaged forests as well as roads, buildings, and other infrastructure .,,442 in the Kenai Peninsula, permafrost has 411 J. Crwius, Glacial Flour Dust Storms in the Gulf of Alaska: Hydrologic and Meteorological Controls and Their Importance as a Source of Bioavailable Iron, 38 GEOPHYS RES. LETTERS, HTTP://ONL'NEL'BRARY. WILEY.Coal/DOI/l O.I029/2010GLO46573/FuLL. 434 See Susan Bartsch -Winkler, Katherine M. Reed, U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Studies in Alaska by the US. Geological Survey during 1985, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 978, http://www.fop.cascadiageo-6rg/alaska—ceIV2006/c-0978.pdf. S.K. Fortner et al., Elevated Stream Trace and Minor Element Concentrations in the Foreland of Receding Tropical Glaciers, Abstract. 26 APP GEOCHEM 1792-1801. ... S. O'Neil et al., Icefield-to-Ocean Linkages Across the Northern Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest Ecosystem, 65 BIOSCIENCE 499-512, https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article- lookup/doi/l0. 1093/biosci/bivO27. 43 Chapin, supra note 355, at 520. 43s Daniel Bush, Arctic Coastlines Threatened by Melting Permafrost, BARENTS OBSERVER (Oct. 5, 2013), http://barentsobserver.com/en/nature/2013/10/arctic-coastlines-threatened-melting-permafrost-05-10. 439 Id. 440 Rosen, supra note 355;. see also Chapin, supra note 355, at 520. 491 Robert Clark, et al., The Effects of a Changing Climate on Key Habitats in Alaska, Special Publication No. 10-14, p. 16, ALASKA DEPT. OFFISH AND GAME (Sept. 2010), https://Www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/lands/ecosystems/pdfs/sp 10_14.pdf 442 Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354. 47 decreased by sixty percent since 1950 443 Permafrost in the northern range, where it is thickest, has started to warm, and permafrost in the southern range has started to decline.444 Indeed, "[pjermafrost near the Alaskan Arctic coast has warmed 4°F to 5°F at 65 foot depth since the late 1970s and 6°F to 8°F at 3.3 foot depth since the mid-1980s445 These aggressive shifts in permafrost temperature have been linked to a release of more greenhouse gases, erosion of lakes, "trees toppling, roads buckling, and the development of sinkholes.„44e And this is just the beginning. According to the National Climate Assessment, "permafrost in Alaska will continue to thaw.' Further, near -surface ermafrost is projected to be "lost entirely from large parts of Alaska by the end of the century." 8 Permafrost has been warming in the network of shallow lakes across northern Alaska, which "play a key role in everything from habitat to how the landscape functions.1,449 Thawing permafrost will impact water quality, including "turbidity, sedimentation, nutrients and other contaminants. Further, as permafrost beneath forests melts, forests sink or "drown" and lead to a curious phenomenon known as "drunken trees."45' In fact, permafrost thaw and thermokarst have resulted in the loss of entire birch forests, indicating that permafrost temperatures in ice - rich birch forests have destabilized as a result of climate change.452 As ground surface subsides due to permafrost thaw, thermokarst terrain manifests itself as "a chaotic surface with small hills and wet depressions. "a53 Thermokarst can "compromise structural integrity and can even lead to collapse," when it exists beneath a road, house, pipeline, or airfield.454 The hard costs to repair the sinking of ground caused by permafrost thaw is "estimated to add between $3.6 and $6.1 billion (10% to 20%) to current costs of maintaining public infrastructure: ,455 Indeed, melting 449 Shahla Faman, Researchers Say Kenai Peninsula Thawing Rapidly, ALASKA PUBLIC MEDIA (Jan. 25, 2017), http://www.alaskapublic.org/2017/01/25/researchers-say-kenai-peninsula-permafrost-thawing-rapidly; B. M. Jones et al., Presence of Rapidly Degrading Permafrost Plateaus in South -Central Alaska, 10 CRYOSPHERE 2673-92 (2016), https://www.the-oryosphere.nct/10/2673/2016/te-10-2673-2016.pdf. 44' Rosen, supra note 355; see also Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354; see also Matt McGrath, Permafrost warming in parts of Alaska 'is accelerating', BBC News (October 22, 2te 5 available at http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34540414. "'Chapin, supra note 355, at 520. McGrath, supra note 444. 447 Chapin, supra note 355, at 520. 4sId.; see also Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354. Eilis Quinn, What Shallow Lakes are Telling Us About Changing Arctic Climate, RADIO CANADA INTERNATIONAL (July 8, 2016), http://www.rciact.ca/en/2016/07/08/what-shallow-lakes-are-telling-us-about-th changing -arctic -climate. e- 4" Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Presentation to Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission (January 24, 2007), https://dec.alaska.gov/air/doc/aciacjanO7-lpg-c.pdf. 5 Ways Climate Change is Already Affecting Alaska, supra note 371. 412 M. J. Lars et al., Thermokarst Rates Intensify Due to Climate Change and Forest Fragmentation in an Alaskan Boreal Forest Lowland, 22 GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 816-29 (2015), available for download at https://www.researchgateneVpublication/282872767-Thermokarst rates intensify_ due_ to climate change_and _fo rest_fragmentation_in_an_Alaskan_ Ci boreal forest_lowland. - - - U.S. Arctic Research Commission Permafrost Task Force Report, Climate Change, Permafrost, and Impacts on Cvil Infrastructure, 8 (Dr. Frederick E. Nelson & Dr. Lawson W. Brigham, lead authors and eds., 2003), 41 tttps://storage.googleapis.com/aretiegov-static/publications/other/permafrost.pdf. Id. 4" Chapin, supra note 355, at 520; see also M. K. Reynolds et al, Cumulative Geoecological Effects of 62 Years of Infrastructure and Climate Change in Ice -Rich Permafrost Landscapes, Prudhoe Bay 0166eld, Alaska, 20 GLOBAL M permafrost threatens many of Alaska's roadways, includinf the Alaska Highway, the "critical artery" between Alaska and the contiguous United States 4 6 Impacts of thawing permafrost on the highway system represent "the biggest geotechnical problem" faced by Alaska's Department Of Transportation.411 Thawing permafrost in Alaska could also have dire effects on wildlife, drastically altering habitat ass "Permafrost underlies most of the Arctic Network and affects nearly everything in the arctic ecosystem, from soils and vegetation to water and wildlife.„asv The continuing drying of Alaska's lakes and wetlands, "due to a combination of permafrost thaw; greater evaporation o a warmer climate, and increased soil organic accumulation," is likely to affect wildlife nationally, particularly waterfowl, "because Alaska accounts for 81 % of the National Wildlife Refuge System.s4 ° Melting permafrost is "projected to increase nutrient, sediment, and carbon loading in river and lake systems" 461 with associated impacts on Alaska's aquatic wildlife. Thawing permafrost will impact Alaskans in ways unimaginable. The world is already seeing some unthinkable effects of thawing permafrost. For example, in 2016, thousands of reindeer died and scores of humans were forced into quarantine in Siberia after contracting anthrax. The outbreak arose when a reindeer carcass that "died in the plague 75 years ago" thawed and "bacteria once again became active."462 The infection "tore through the reindeer herds, [and] prompt[ed] the relocation of dozens of the indigenous Nenet community."463 Similarly, as a result of climate change -caused ice melt, hazardous "PCBs and nuclear coolant water" from a decommissioned U.S. military base constructed underneath the Greenland Ice CHANGE BIOLOGY 1211-24 (2014), available for download at https://www.researchgate net/publication/259336R22 ash — .••,�y��_'nuuscapes_rruanoe_Bay_Oil6eld_Alaska. — — Greg Quinn, Climate Change is Hell on Alaska's Formerly Frozen Highways, BLOOMBERG (Aug. 21 2016), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-08-02/the-alaskan�highway-is-literally-melting. 457 Id. ass See Robert Clark, et al., The Effects of a Changing Climate on Key Habitats in Alaska, Special Publication No., 10-14, ALASKA DEPT. OF FISH AND GAME (Sept. 2010), https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/staticAand&/ecosYstems/pdfs/spio 14.pdf 4" National Park Service, Inventory & Monitoring, Permafrost, htttps://science.nature nps.gov/im/units/aren/vitalsign.cfm?vsid--9. Chapin, supra note 355, at 520. 461 Robert Clark, et al., The Effects of a Changing Climate on Key Habitats in Alaska, Special Publication No. 10-14, P. 10, ALASKA DEPT. OF FISH AND GAME (Sept. 2010), https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/lands/ecosystems/pdfs/sp10_14.pdf'. see also R. C. Toohey et al., MuZtidecadal Increases in the Yukon River Basin of Chemical Flaxes as Indicators of Changing Flowpaths, Groundwater, and Permafrost, Abstract, 43 GEOPHYs RES. LETT. 1-11 (2016) ("[Plermafrost degradation has increased the weathering of mineral soils, and deeper groundwater flow paths are occurring. The changing hydrology and water chemistry may have implications for aquatic life."). "Ben Guarino, Anthrax Sickens 13 in Western Siberia, and a Thawed -Out Reindeer Corpse May be to Blame, WASHINGTON POST (July 28, 2016), - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wT/2016/07/28/anthrax-sickens-l3-in-westem-siberia-and-a- thawed-out-reindeer-corpse-may-be-to-blame. 463 Id. M Sheet "could begin spreading... across the surface of the ice sheet and into the ocean.s46' There is no telling what may be unearthed if Alaska's permafrost is allowed to thaw at its current rate. However, the most significant impact of thawing permafrost is the further release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Permafrost serves as an important carbon sink, storing large amounts of carbon, and when permafrost thaws it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Permafrost holds about 50 percent of the global soil carbon.465 As such, rising released carbon dioxide causes more global warming tmosphere due to feedback loops temperatures could have grave consequences on Alaska's a provided by the release of CO2 in permafrost; as rising temperatures thaw permafrost, the and thus causes further thawing,466 Cory, an assistant professor in environmental sciences and engineering at the University of North Rose Carolina explained that if all the world's permafrost thawed, "it could double the amount f trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."467 of heat - Further, Cory stated that " (tjhe conversion [of permafrost frozen carbon] to CO2 is going much faster than previously thought.„461 Scientists have projected that "by the year 2100, permafrost around the world... could release some 150 gigatons of carbon to the atmosphere if warming continues apace .... That converts into over 500 gigatons of carbon dioxide.11469 Sue Natali of the Woods Hole Research Center, says this feedback loop "puts even greater urgency on reducing our fossil fuel emissions now in order to avoid a future driven by an irreversible carbon feedback loop."470 Although emitting vastly larger amounts of CO2471 thawing permafrost also releases stores of methane, another powerful greenhouse gas, further exacerbating climate change feedback loops which could cause runaway climate change.472 Indeed, a recent study has confirmed that climate change induced alterations have now resulted 464 Andrew Freedman, Melting Warming Threatens to Unearth Waste from Secret Cold War Military Base Buried in Greenland's Ice, MASHABLE (Aug. 4, 2016), http://mashable.com/2016/08/04/greenland-cold-war-base-global- warming-waste/#O8 B68sv7Sg2. 465 Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354. E. A. G. Schuur, et al., Climate Change and the 2015) Permafrost Carbon Feedback, Nature 520, 171-79, 171 (April 9, 20 https://www.researchgate net/publication/274698738—Climate—change—and_the�ermafro st_cazbon_feedback; see balso Emily Atkin, Why this New Study on Arctic Permafrost is so Scary, Think Progress (April 8, 2015) available at ttps:!/thinkprogress.org/why-this-new-study-on-arctic-permafrost-is-so-scary-dOb00dOb344e/.' , 4hChrista Marshall, Melting Tundra Releases Carbon Dioxide Quickly, Scientific American (February 13, 2012), t8 id. d. 4" 5 Ways Clintate Change is Already Affecting Alaska, supra note 371. 4" Emily Atkin, Why this New Study on Arctic Permafrost is so Scary,. THINK PROGRESS (April 8, 2015), h"ps:/"hinkprogress.org/why-this-new-study-on-arctic-permafrost-is-so-scary-dOb00dOb344e/. 471 Christina Schnadel, et al., Potential Carbon Emissions Dominated by Carbon Dioxide from Thawed Permafrost Soils, 6 NATURE: CLIMATE CHANGE 950-53 (2016), https://www.researchgate net/pubiicarion/303957631_Potentialc rom—thawed—permafrost soils. _azbon emissions_dominated_by_carbon_dioxide_f 4n See Adam Wernick, Thawing Permafrost Could Have Catastrophic Consequences, Scientists Warn, PUBLIC RADIO INTERNATIONAL (June 24, 2016), http'://www.pxi.org/stories/2015-06-24/thawing-perxnafrost-could-have- catastrophicconsequences-scientists-warn; K. Walter -Anthony, Methane Emissions Proportional to Permafrost Carbon Thawed in Arctic Lakes Since the 1950s, 9 NATURE: GEOSCIENCE 679-82 (2016). 50 in Alaska's arctic turning from a net carbon sink to a major carbon emissions source.473 Scientists have warned that the "extra impacts of the permafrost" emissions "are sufficiently high to justify urgent action to minimize the scale of the" permafrost releases 474 4. Ecosystem Impacts Alaska's boreal and arctic regions have "diverse and dynamic ecosystems which are sensitive to climate change."475 According to the 3PCC, the rapid rate of climate change in the Arctic "will impact natural and social vrstems and may exceed the rate at which some of their components can successfully adapt."47 (a) Wildfires and Beetles The Alaska tundra was historically too wet and cold "to support extensive fires" for the last 5,000 years477 However, global warming has changed wildfire dynamics and the frequency of wildfires in Alaska. Recent tundra burning which has occurred is `unprecedented in the central Alaskan Arctic within the last 5,000 years.,,478 Like melting sea ice, increased absorption Of light by burned tundra relative to pre -fire conditions can influence feedback loops that accelerate and reinforce climate change.479 The increased incidence of forest fires resulting from climate change accelerates the degradation and thawing of permafrost, among other impacts.480 According to Scott Rupp, a professor of forestry at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, wildfires across the state have increased in area burned and frequency since the 1950's.481 In 973 Henry Fountain, Tundra May Be Shifting Alaska to Put Out More Carbon Than It Stores, Study Says, N. Y. TIMES (May 8, 2017), https://www.nytimes.conv2Ol7/05/08/climate/alaska-carbon4axide-co2-tundra.htnil; Roisin Commane, et al., Carbon Dioxide Sourcesfrom Alaska Driven By Increasing Early Winter Respiration from Arctic Tundra, PHYSICAL SCIENCES —EARTH, ATMOSPHERIC, AND PLANETARY SCIENCES, PNAS 2017, published ahead of print May 8, 2017, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1618567114. 74 C. Hope and K. Schaefer, Economic Impacts of Carbon Dioxide and Methane Released from Thawing Permafrost, Abstract, 6 NATURE: CLIMATE CHANGE 56-59 (2016), https://www.nacarbon.orWnacp/docurnents/WWR Nov_2015_Hope.pdf. Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354. 476 Larsen, J.N., et al., Polar regions, in CLIMATE CHANGE 2014: IMPACTS, ADAPTATION, AND VULNERABILITY PART B: REGIONAL ASPECTS 1567-1612, 1570 (V. R. Barros et al. eds., 2014), https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment- repert/ar5/wg2/ W GlIAR5-Chap28_FINAL.pdf. 47 Chapin, supra note 355, at 52L 47s F. S. Hu et al., Tundra Burning in Alaska: Linkages to Climatic Change and Sea Ice Retreat, Abstract, J. GEOPHYs RES: BIOGEOSCIENCEs 115: G04002 (2010), http://0nlinelibrmy.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2009JG001270/full. 479 See A. V. Rocha et al., The Footprint of Alaskan Tundra Fires During the Past Half -Century: Implications for Surface PropertiesandRadiative Forcing, ENVIRON RES LETTER 7 (2012), http://iopscience.iop.org/article/lo. I 088/1748-9326/7/4/044039/meta. ... See E. E. Jafarov et al., The Effects of Fire on the Thermal Stability of Permafrost in Lowland and Upland Black Spruce Forests of Interior Alaska in a Changing Climate, ENviRoN RES LETT 8: 035030, 11 (2011), http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/03503'0/meta; see also D. R. N. Brown et al., Interactive Effects of Wildfire and Climate on Permafrost Degradation in Alaskan Lowland Forests, 120 J. GEOPHYs RES BIOGEOSCI 1619-37 (2015), http://onlinelibrary.wiley.wm/doi/10.1002/2015JG003033/Ul. 4815 Ways Climate Change is Already Affecting Alaska, supra note 444; see also Alaska Entering New Era for Wildfires, CLIMATE CENTRAL (June 24, 2015), http://www.climatecenual.org/news/alaska-entering-new-era-for- 51 fact, wildfires in the 2000's have "increased nearly tenfold" compared to the 1950s and 60s.482 There has also been a "dramatic increase" in larger wildfires (those that consume between 10,000 and 50,000 acres).483 Only three years in the 1950s and 60s saw large wildfires; however, as of June 2015, there had already been over 30 large fires since 2000.484 In what was described as "the most destructive fire year ever," 485 wildfires burned over 5 million acres in Alaska in 2015 (an area of land about the size of Massachusetts), 486 making the season among 487 the worst in Alaska's recorded history, second only to the record -breaking 2004 wildfire season. Wildfires in 2004 and 2005 burned a larger area than in the 15 years between 1950 and 1964.411 In 2004, the Taylor Complex Fire burned more than 1,300,000 acres, making it the biggest fire in the record -breaking season, "which ended up seeing roughly 6.5 million acres of forest burned — the highest in U.S. history.419 In 2007, a single wildfire burned 256,000 acres of Alaska's Arctic slope, making it the largest fire on record for the tundra biome.490 The blaze lasted over three months and released as much carbon to the atmosphere as had been absorbed by the entire circumpolar Arctic tundra during the previous quarter-century.491 Alaska's wildfire season is approximately 40 percent longer now than it was in the 1950s; ruining from May to early August, or 35 days longer than it did sixty years ago.492 The financial toll taken by wildfires increased in lockstep with their accelerating incidence. For example, in 1995 the U.S. Forest Service dedicated 16% of its budget to wildfires, by 2015 more than half of its budget went to addressing .493 This dramatic uptick in the size and frequency of Alaska wildfires is due to the impacts of climate change, such as hotter, drier, and longer warm -weather seasons, reduced soil moisture, wildfires-19146; see also Baseline and projected Future Carbon Storage and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Ecosystems in Alaska, supra note 379, at 17; see also Rosen, supra note 355; see also U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Impacts in Alaska, supra note 354; see also J. C. Koch et al., Runoff Sources and Flow Paths in a Partially Burned, Upland Boreal Catchment Underlain by Permafrost, 50 WATER RESOURCES RES 8141- 58 (2014), http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014"015586/full. 4" Alaska Entering New Era for Wildfires, supra note 481; see also Rosen, supra note 355. 483 Alaska Entering484ld. New Era for Wildfires, supra note 481. 4" Alastair Bland, Catching Fire: Wildfire Season Heats up in the American West, NEWS REVIEW (July 14, 2016), https://www.newsreview.com/reno/catching-fire/content?oid=21468884; see also Chris Mooney, Alaska's Terrifying Wildfire Season and What It Says About Climate Change, WASuNGTON Posy (July 26, 2015), https://Www,washin2tonnnst e.nmi.e...i. ..4-,.- 416 Asaf Shalev, 2015 Alaska Wildfire Season Now 2nd Biggest on Record, ALASKA DISPATCH NEWS (Aug. 10, 2015), http://www.adn.com/article/2ol5o8l O/2015-alaska-wildfire-season-now-2nd-biggest-record; Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354. 481 Partain, supra note 216, at S 14. 4" Alaska Entering New Era for Wildfires, supra note 481. 489 Bryan Nelson, 10 of the Worst Wildfires in U.S. History, MOTHER NATURE NETWORK (June 17, 2013), http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wildemess-resources/stories/i 0-of-the-worst-wildfires-in-us-history. 49' Michelle C. Mack, Carbon Loss From an Unprecedented Arctic Tundra Wildfire, NATURE 475, 489-92 (July 28, 2011), available for download at https://www.researchgate net/publicafion/51527712 Carbon loss_fromanunprecedentedArctic tun dra_wildfire. 491 Id.; see also Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354; see also Chapin, supra note 355, at 520. 4" Alaska Entering New Era for Wildfires, supra note 481 4" Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354. 52 changes in precipitation, and increased evaporation. 49A Higher temperatures lead to more "standing dead, highly flammable trees that are especially vulnerable to wildfire,„495 which heightens the risk of more larger and intense fires. Indeed, rising temperatures have been "concurrent with the rise in the number and size of Alaskan wildfires."49e years with the most fires and area burned also tend to be the years with the hottest summers and fire seasons.497 . The American Meteorological Society estimates that anthropogenic climate than3g�a has increased the risk of fire seasons in Alaska of the severity typified by 2015 by 34%-60%4"S "Alaska's wildfire season is about 40 percent longer now than it was in the 1950s. The first wildfires start earlier in the, year, and the last wildfires are burning longer into the fall. Overall, the wildfire season has increased more than 35 days and is now more than three months long, running from May through early August.',499 This increase in wildfires has dire consequences on human health, wildlife habitats, and furthers global warming.500 Wildfire smoke, which is a combination of gases and aerosolssol negatively affects human health by worsening air quality, and in the process harming eyes, irritating respiratory systems, and worsening chronic heart and lung diseases.502 The "fine particles present in the [wildfire] smoke ... can enter into the lungs through the eyes, mouth, and nose, or aggravate preexisting health conditions like lung or heart disease. ,503 Wildfires also create yet another feedback loop: they are "not only worsening due to climate change; they also cause climate change to worsen.i504 In addition to releasing carbon from burned trees, wildfires also release carbon from burned permafrost.505 This in turn creates a feedback loop, where "[t]he more severe the fire, the more deeply the Earth is scorched, and the more warming we can expect „506 494 Natural Resources Defense Council, -Where There's Fire, There's Smoke: Wildfire Smoke Affects Communities Distant from Deadly Flames, 2 (October 2013), IB:13-09-b, https://www nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wildfire-smoke- IB.pdf; see also Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354; see also Chapin, supra note 355, at 520. 495 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, supra note 354. 496 Alaska Entering New Era for Wildfires, supra note 381. 497 Id. 498 Partain, J. L., supra note 216. 4" Alaska Entering New Era for Wildfires, supra note 381. "Chapin, supra note 355, at 521; see also, NASA Earth Expeditions, Living Off the Land in a Changing Arctic Climate (July 15, 2016), https://blogs.nasa.gov/earthcxpeditioiis/2016/07/15/living-off-the-land-in-a-changing- arctic-climate. so' NASA Earth Observatory, Smoke Goes Around the World. Image of the Day (July 2015), http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=86241. sox Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Protect Yourself from Wildfire Smoke (last updated August 7, 2017), http://www.cdc.gov/features/wildfres; see also Alaska Department of Health and Human Services, Fire and Smoke Health Concerns: Frequently Asked Questions (July 1, 2015), http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/eph/Documents/wildfire/FAQ_FireSmoke.pdf; see also AirNow, How Smoke from Fires Can Affect Your Health, U.S. EPA OFFICE OF AIR AND RADIATION (Jan. 2017), https://aimow.gov/index.efrn?action=smoke.index. sos Mooney, supra note 485. soa Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354. 505ld.; see also Mooney, supra note 485; see also Adam Markham, 6 Ways Climate Change in Alaska Will Affect YOU, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS (Aug. 31, 2015), http://blog.ucsusa.org/adam-markhauVclimate-change-in- alaska-864. 506 Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354; see also Chapin, supra note 355, at 521 53 Due to "higher surface air temperatures linked to climate change,s507 Alaska wildfires are projected to increase 150 to 390 percent by the mid-century.508 In fact, if warming continues, large fires "will no longer be so extraordinary.„509 Such a phenomenon would bring grave consequences for forests and wildlife habitats. An increase of fires of this magnitude will lead to a "transformation of what has been spruce -dominated forest,',510 which will change the suitability of these forests for timber production and wildlife, most notably the caribou.511 Caribou rely on lichens, which grow at the bases of black spruce trees, to survive in the winter. 512 Because lichens "require 50 to 100 years to recover after wildfire," the projected increase of wildfires could lead to a decrease in caribou population, which in turn could be "nutritionally and culturally significant for Alaska Native Peoples.„513 Additionally, some invasive species, which would increase with wildfires, are toxic to moose, another nutritional and cultural significant animal to Alaska Native Peoples. Continued rising temperatures and wildfires will lead to increased impacts on human health, ecology, wildlife, and further global warming. (b) Ocean Acidification Ocean acidification, a "direct result of increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,"515 has been called climate change's "disastrous twin.""' Alaska is particularly prone to ocean acidification due to the low temperatures and low salt content, caused by "freshwater input from melting sea ice."Sn 518 Acidity in the ocean alters the lives of key plankton and shelled animals, which in turn "alters the food available to important fish species.s519 The sm Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354. ... X. Yue et al., Impact of 2050 Climate Change on North American Wildfire, 15 ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND PHrsics 10033-55, 10048 (May 13, 2015), https://Www.atmos-chem-phys-net/15/10033/2015/acp-15-10033- 2015.pdf; see also Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354; see also Alaska Entering New Era for Wildfires, supra note 381 ("the amount of area burned in Alaskan wildfires is projected to double by 2015 and triple by 2100."); see also Balshi, M. S., et al., Assessing the Response of Area Burned to Changing Climate in Western Boreal North America Using a Multivanate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) Approach, 15 GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, 578-600, 585 (2009), available for download at https://www.researchgate net/publication/229948796 AsaeQ,;,,a tt,...e....,,.,.,e „o ---_ Yereth Rosen, Warming, Fires, Warming, Fires: How Tundra Wildfires Could Create an Unstoppable Cycle, ALASKA DISPATCH NEWS, (May 30, 2016), http://Www.adn-com/alaska-news/science/2016/05/30/warming-fires- waarming-fires-how-tundra-wildfires-could-create-an-unstoppable-cycle. Rosen, supra note 355. 51 Chapin, supra note 355, at 521, s�z Mooney, supra note 485. sis Chapin, supra note 355, at 521. sN id. 511 Markham,supra note 505. 516 Zoe Schlanger, So Long, Seafood! Ocean Acidification Projected to Slam Alaskan Fisheries, NEWSWEEK (July 29, 2014), http://www newsweek.com/ocean-acidification-Aaskan-fisheries-alaska-crab-crabs-climate-change- alaska-261756; see also Markham, supra note 505. s11 Chapin, supra note 355, at 521; see also Alaska Ocean Acidification Network, What I ALAs Ocean Acidification, OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEM, http://www.aoos.org/alaska-ocean-acidification-network/about-oa/what-is- ocean-an-acidification; see also Rosen, supra note 355. sis See Laine Welch, Ocean Chapin, supra note 355, at 22at i. fication Could Erode Bering Strait Crab Stocks Within the Next 20 Years, ALASKA DISPATCH NEWS, (June 21, 522, http://www.adn.com/economy/article/ocean-acidification/2016/04/16. 54 sea creatures in the polar ocean rely on particular conditions in order to survive conditions change, so do their populations. ; "[w]hen thoseMost notably, shelled pteropods — one of the foundational species of the marine food chain in Alaska, and and herring— are particula major source of food for salmon arly susceptible to ocean acidifiication.521 According to the Third National Climate Assessment, a "10% decrease in the population of pteropods could mean a 20% decrease in an adult pink salmon's body weight "522 indicates that "the incidence of severe ptData from the California Current Ecosystem eropod shell dissolution owing to anthmpogenic [ocean acidification] has nearly doubled in near shore habitats since pre -industrial conditions...and is on track to triple by 2050."523 This is just one instance of how ocean acidification can detrimentally affect commercial and subsistence fisheries. 524 Alaska crab are also "among the species expected to be negatively impacted by ocean acidification ,525 as are oysters raised in Alaska. Oyster larvae from Puget Sound farmers, but farmers in state rely on importation of attached oyster those farmers, are "now directly affected by the recent upwelling of acidic waters along the Washington and Oregon coastline," and thus cannot be relied upon In fact, Oyster seed production in the Northwest has fallen in recent years by as much as eighty percent as oceans become more acidic due to combustion of fossil fuels.52 According to a 2015 study done by NOAA, the University of Alaska, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Research Institute, the "largest and most rapid changes in pH will occur in the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea" in the next decade.528 Oc impair Alaska's fisheries szv ean acidification will thus "overwhelm the ability of marine calcifiers to build and maintain their shells," which will further Alaskan waters' capacity to further absorb carbon dioxide could be 520 Schlanger, supra note 516. Chapin, supra note 355, at 522; Alaska Ocean Acidification Network, What is Ocean Acidification, Alaska OCEAN OBSERVNG SYSTEM, http://W W W.aoo'.org'alaska-ocean-acidification-network/about-oa/what-is-Gcean- acidification; see also Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Climate Change Strategy, 3 (Nov. 2010), 522 Chapin, supra d a note 355, at Schlanger, supra note 516. 521 Chapin, supra note 355, at 522. 523 N. Bednarsek et al., Limacina Helicina Shell Dissolution as an Indicator of Declining Habitat Suitability Owing to Ocean Acidification in the California Current Ecosystem. PROC ROY SOC B: BIGLOG SCr 281: 20140123 (2014), Situ://rspb.royalsociety ppublishing,org/content/281/1785/20140123. Chapin, supra note 355, at 522.; see also Climate Conservation Council, Ocean Acidification Change Strategy, supra note 521; see also Alaska Marine acidification/ocean-acidification-in-alaska/. a/. in Alaska, http://wa µ,.ykmarine org/fisheries-conservation/ocean- 525 Alaska Ocean Acidification Network, What is Ocean Acid0cation, ALAS KA OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEM, http://www.aoos.org/alaska-ocean-acidification-network/about-oa/what-is ocean -acidification; see also Terry Johnson, Fisheries Adaptation to Climate Change, SEA GRANT ALASKA, NOAA, http://seagrant.nose.gov/Portals/0/Documents/what we_do/climate/AK%20SG%20Fisheries%20Adaptations%20to %20Climate%20Change.pdf.; Robert f. Joy, et. al., Ocean Acidification: Monitoring and Measuring the Physiologicaland Population Response of Living Marine Resources in Alaska, NOAA h"ps://www.afse.noaa.90V/Quarterly/jas2Ol2/J` Chapin, supra note 355, at 522. 527 Katie Campbell, Eard x, Acidifying Water Takes Toll on Northwest Shellfish, NOAA PMEL CARBON PROGRAM' https://Www.pm".noaa.gov/co2/story/Acidifying+Water+Takes+Tol1+0n+Northwest+Shellfish. Jeremy T. Mathis, Jessica N. Cross, Wiley Evans & Scott C. Doney, Ocean Acidification in the Surface Waters of the Pacific -Arctic Boundary Regions, 28 OCEANOGRAPHY 122-351126 (June 2015), http://tas.orgloceanography/assets/docs/28-2_ynathis2.pdf. 529 Markham, supra note 505. 55 met anywhere between the year 2025 and 2044.530 Alaska's marine life will only become The impacts of ocean acidification on more grim after that."' These implications are dire not only for Alaska's marine life, but also for the Alaskans that rely upon them as "[t]he seafood industry in Alaska has an estimated value of $5.8 billion and constitutes the largest private sector employer in the state.531 (c) Wildlife Climate change brings major impacts to wildlife in various ecosystems of Alaska.533 One comprehensive study looking at 60 environmental indicators found that climate change impacts "will be the major drivers of ecological change through 2100."534 In fact, "[fjorest, tundra, marine, and freshwater ecosystems are all vulnerable to a changing climate, which can influence Alaska's biodiversity in a myriad of complex and unpredictable ways."535 Alaska is home to five ecological regions with different climate characteristics , as well as "36 fish species, 36 land mammals, nine marine mammals, and more than 160 migratory and resident bird species," which are all connected to and impacted by climate change in different ways. 536 Because Arctic animals "are so specialized to the extreme conditions in which they live, species diversity is low and the food web is relatively small. The depletion of even one species when those conditions change could have a ripple effect on the entire food web. ,537 The influx of rising temperatures, declining sea ice, thawing permafrost, increased wildfires, and increased ocean acidification has left Arctic species very sensitive and increasingly vulnerable.s3s Already, rising temperatures and drier weather have resulted in Water scarcity impacting animals across the state of Alaska.539 Increased storm surges have eroded coastal habitats and loss of sea ice has impacted ice -dependent animals' food sources and habitats.540 Loss of sea ice "creates a pathway for invasive species and habitat loss for a variety of ice -dependent species, 530Id. ("The threshold could be reached by 2025 in the Beaufort Sea, 2027 in the Chukchi Sea and 2044 for the Bering Sea."). "' See Schlanger, supra note 516. ... Alaska Ocean Acidification Network, What is Ocean Acidification, supra note 517. ... U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Impacts in Alaska (January 19, 2017), https://19januar}2Ol7snapshot.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-alaska .htmi. 134 Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 427; see also M. T. Jorgenson et al., Projected Changes in Diverse Ecosystems from Climate Warming and Biophysical Drivers in Northwest Alaska, 130 CLIMACTIC CHANGES 1i31-144, 141 (Jan, 18, 2015), https://Iink-springer.com/articWIO.ID07/sIO584-014-1302-1. D07/sIO584-014-1302-1. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Climate Change Science (last updated September 24, 2014), https://Www.fws.gov/alaska/climate. 536 Climate Change: Alaska's National Wildlife Refuges, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERV. (last visited May 3, 2017), https://wwwfws.gov/alaska/climate/pdf/FactSheet Arctic NWR.pdf. DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE, Risk?, 3, Climate Change and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Which Species are Most at e most at tisk.pdf. — - — ' `8 — " " arcnc_national _wildlife_ refuge Sid _ which_species_ar Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354. 539 Id.; see also Climate Change: Alaska's National Wildlife Refuges, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, supra note 536. 500 Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero; supra note 354; see also Climate Change: Refuges, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, supra note 536. Alaska's National Wildlife W including walruses and polar bears.s541 For instance, the loss of sea ice forces polar bears to swimreat distances they would otherwise walk, cubs. leading to increased drowning of polar bear The thaw of permafrost has altered vegetation, a food source for many animals, and contributed to the draining, evaporation, and other alteration of lakes that provide breeding habitat for a variety of birds Additionally, increased wildfires have impacted forest composition and distribution, further affecting animal food sources and habitats.saa Pribilof Islands alone, a group of four volcanic islands off the coast of main] In fact, in the and Alaska, global warming is thought to have caused "the decline of 20 [native] species.° sas The decrease in sea ice caused by climate change means that marine mammals, such as narwhal, and other species are at greater risk of attack by killer whales and that, as such, "killer whales have the potential to reshape Arctic marine mammal distributions and behavior .546 A study of Arctic and subarctic marine mammal species from 2008 concluded that the hooded seal, the narwhal, and the polar bear are "most sensitive" to the threat of climate change, primarily due to reliance on sea ice and specialized feeding. However, a large variety of Alaska's marine mammals are at risk and impacted from climate change, including narwhal, beluga whales, bowhead whales, fin whales, humpback whales, minke whales, gray whales, killer whales, walruses, rimed seals, bearded seals, harp seals, hooded seals, ribbon seals, spotted seals, and polar bears 5 Alaska's salmon populations, which provide subsistence for Native communities and Provide a substantial portion of the state economy, face devastating impacts from climate change in the absence of meaningful action. In a study based on the impact of rising temperatures alone, M7 U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, CLIMATE IMPACTS IN ALASKA, 355. hops://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-alaska_ btml; see also Chapin, supra note 542 542 Polar Bear Cubs Drowning Due to Sea Ice Loss, Says Report, GUARDIAN (July 19, 2011), https://www.theguardian.com/enviromnent/201 I /juU19/polar-bear-cubs-drowning-ice. 503 Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 5; see also U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Impacts'in Alaska, supra note 354; Markham, supra note 505; Climate Change: Alaslut Is National Wildlife Refuges, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, sura note 536 544 p. Alaska: Climate Change Ground Zero, supra note 354; see U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Impacts in Alaska, supra note 354; Climate Ch Range: Alaska's National Wildlife Refuges, Arctic National Wildlife �ge, supra note 536. 54 Margot Roosevelt, Vanishing Alaska: Global Warming is Flooding Villages Along the Coast. Should They Surrender and Move?, TIME (Sept. 27, 2004), http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,995264,00.htnil. snc G. A. Breed at al., Sustained Disruption of Narwhal Habitat Use and Behavior in the Presence of Arctic Killer Whales, Abstract, 114 PNAS 2628-33 (2017), https://www ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28223481. Abstract, ECOL. APPL. 18 (2 Suppl): S97-125 (2008), 547 K. L. Laidre at al., Quantifying the Sensitivity of Arctic Marine Mammals to Climate -Induced Habitat Change, https://s3;amazonaws.com/acadeniia.edu.documents/45278297/Quantifyin -26464- g the sensitivity of Arr S. E. Moore and H. P. Huntington, Arctic Marine Mammals arnd Climat�ChcticheaAPPL. 18 (2 Suppl): 157-65 (2008), aa8 Impact and Resilience, ECOL. 57 without considering additional impacts from ocean acidification scientists or other sources, Predict project that summer habitats in the North Pacific and part of the Arctic Ocean will chum salmon.549 decrease 86%for Chinook, 45%for sockeye, 36% for steelhead, and 30% for colic, pink and The open ocean Gulf of Alaska habitat for Chinook and sockeye "could be completely lost by 2100."550 These represent ust some of the profound impacts facing Alaska's salmon due to anthropogenic climate change. Increased landslides, seawater rise, changes, in running time and changing zooplankton availability, each associated with climate change, . Present additional dangers to Alaska's salmon.sss Further, in addition to warming of freshwater and marine habitat, "altered hydrology in spawning rivers, reduced productivity in nursing habitats, and changed distribution of predator and prey species," and other impacts resulting from anthropogenic climate change are affecting Alaska's salmon. 553 The rapid climate change facing Alaska is also contributing to the spread of Elodea, Alaska's first aquatic invasive plant, which threatens salmon spawning and rearing sites, with corresponding impacts on subsistence sas O. I. Abdul-Aziz et al., potential Climate Change Impacts on Thermal Habitats of Pacific Salmon (Oneorhynchus spp.) in the North Pacific Ocean and Adjacent Seas; Abstract, 68 CAN. J. FISH AQUAT. SCL 1660 80, https://ewrel flu.edu/"-content/uploads/2011/lb/Abdul-Aziz-et-al-CJFAS-2011.pdf; see also S. Mauger, Stream Temperature Monitoring Network for Cook Inlet Salmon Streams 2008.20I2, Synthesis Report, COOK INLETKEEPER FOR ALASKA DEPT ENV CONSERVATION (ACWA 13-01) AND US FISH AND WR.DLWE SERVICE (Ft2AC01078)' h"p':"dec.alaska.gov/water/Wgsar/pdfs/Reports/Stream-Temperature-Monitoring-Network- thesis-2013-ADEC.pdf (detailing temperature increases in streams around Cook Inlet). .ST Abdul-Aziz, supra note 549. ssi See also J. R. Griffiths and D. E. Schindler Consequences of Changing Climate and Geomorphology for Bioenergetics of Juvenile Sockeye Salmon in a Shallow Alaska Lake, 21 ECOL. FRESHWATER FISH 349-62 (discussing effect of warning waters on juvenile sockeye salmon); J. R. Griffiths et al., Effects of Simultaneous Climate Change and Geomorphic Evolution of Thermal Characteristics of a Shallow Alaskan Lake, 56 LPANOL. OCEANOGR. 191 205 (impacts of temperature change on salmon) Y. Ishida et al., Imerannual Variability in Stock Abundance and Body Size of Pacific Salmon in the Central Bering Sea, 55 PROG. OCEANOG. 223_34 (impacts of temperature change on size, distribution, and diet Of salmon); S. Mauger et al., Summer Temperature Regimes in Southcentral Alaska Streams., Watershed Drivers of Variation and Potential Implications for Pacific Salmon, CAN. J. FISH AQUAT. $CI., http:/twww.nrcresearchpress.con/doi/pdfl10.1139/cjfas-2016-0076, (temperature impacts due to warming already exceeding incubation and spawning parameters); M. Healey, The Cumulative Impacts of Climate Change on Fraser River Sockeye Salmon (Onchorhynchus nerka) and Implications for Management, a CAN. J. FISH AQUAT. $CI.718 37, http://www. fishsciences net/reports/2011/CJFAS 68_718-737or (Climate change impacts on Sockeye salmon); S. P. Johnson and D. E. Schindler, Trophic Ecology of Pacific Salmon (Onchorhynchus s in the Ocean: A Synthesis of Stable Isotope Research, 24 ECOL.RES. 855, httPs://www.researcheaten�.f/�4;iem.._:-, .. _ . pp') •",,""""s-sPp-in-the-ocean-A-synthesis-of-stable-isot �«vuvwuuWr (climate change impacts on salmon and salmon prey abundance); M. Kaeriope- Feeding.pdf, and Trophic Dynamics of pacificSalmon in the Central Gulf of Alaska in al at., ChangEcology OCEANOG. 197-207, Relation yama of Climate Events, 13 FISH https://Www.researchgate net/publication/227529770 Change_in_feedin ecology is salmon Oncorh nchusneaten spp_in the central Gulf of Alaska_in relation to_climate events; EgtE News gy_and-trophic_dynamics_of Pacif Climate Change Threatens Southeast Alaska's Salmon Habitat (Dec 9, 2013), h salmon). w.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059991457 (temperature and rainfall impact projections on SE Alaska salmon). ss2 See M. D. Bryant, Global Climate Change and Potential Effects on Pacific Salmonids in Freshwater Ecosystems of Southeast Alaska, CLIMATIC CHANGE, (published online Jan 14, 2009), https://www.srs fs fed.us/pubs/ja/ja_bryam005 553 Healey, supra note 551. .pdf. 9.1 practices.554 Additionally, though climate change is resulting in earlier spawning, studies show that predators have adjusted their migrations so they can continue to feed on salmon eggs.555 Warming in watersheds with steep mountains and a related transition from snow to rain -fed hydrology means that stream discharge and increased flooding are expected to increase I to 3 fold in southeast Alaska, diminishing the chance of egg -to -fry survival.551 The increased loss of snow associated with climate change also threatens salmon because lack of snow cover over spawning gravel increases in freeze -related egg mortality.117 Finally, the increased levels of concentrations of CO2 projected for Alaska's freshwater salmon habitat in the next century century, if effective GHG reductions are not implemented, salmon with will result in smaller reduced sense of smell, further reducing chances of survival and reproduction er Alaska's other species are feeling the impact of climate change as well. In the Barents sea, "generalist" fish such as Atlantic Cod and haddock, as well as many other species, have been moving farther and farther north, changing "species composition and relative abundances" and altering "the arctic food web structure and ecosystem functioning substantially.10559 Additionally early ice retreat is predicted to have impacts on survival of young pollock.560 Climate change in Alaska is resulting in changes in breeding frequency of some species. For example, because of warmer lake temperatures and earlier ice breakup, the three -spine stickleback is having two broods per year instead of one.561 This fish occupies the same habitat as juvenile sockeye salmon so that the increased population of stickleback may result in sockeye 154 M W Luizza et al., Integrating Subsistence Practices and Species Distribution Modeling: Assessing Invasive Elodea's Potential Impact on Native Alaskan Subsistence of Chinook Salmon and Whitefish, 58 ENv. MGMT. 144, available for download at https://www.researchgatenet/publicatlon/29937va7v r .o .:__ ___,__• . whitefish. — '-"-" ' -unpacT on tvatroe_Alaskan subsistence_of Chinook -Salmon and sss C. J. Sergeant et al., Predator -Prey Migration Phenologies Remain Synchronized in a Warming Catchment, 60 FRESHWATER BIOLOGY 724-32 (2014). sss C. S. Shanley and D. M. Albert, Climate Change Sensitivity Index for Pacific Sabnon Habitat in Southeast Alaska, PLoS One 9 (8), http://journals.plos.org/plosone/articlelid--10.1371/ournai.pone.0104799. 5s7 See W. A. Church and R. L. Burgner, Studies on the Effect of Winter Climate on Survival of Sockeye Salmon Embryos in the Wood River Lakes, Alaska 1952-1 FISHERIES SCIENCES; 959, UNIVERSLTY OF WASHINGTON, SCHOOL OF AQUATIC AND https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/l773/15541/0901.pdflsequence=l &isAilowed=y. sss See M. Ou et al., Responses of Pink Salmon to CO2-Induced Aquatic Acidification, NATURE: CLIMATE CHANGE, https://www.researchgate net/publication/280978965 induced -aquatic_ acidification. 559 S. Kortsch et al., Climate Change Alters the Structure of Arctic Marine Food Webs Due to Poleward Shifts of Boreal Generalists, Abstract PROC. R. SOC. B 282: 20151546, http://rspb.royalsocietypubfishing.org/content/282/1814/20151546. sea George L. Hunt, Jr. et al., Climate Impacts on Eastern Bering Sea Foodwebs: A Synthesis of New Data and an Assessment of the Oscillating Control Hypothesis, 68 ICES J MAR SCI 1230-43 (2011), h'tp'://"adernic.oup.comli cesjms/article/68/6/1230/703602/Climate-impacts-on-eastem-Bering-Sea-foodwebs-a. s6' R. A. Hovel et al., Climate Change Alters the Reproductive Phenology and Investment of a Lacustrine Fish, the Three -Spine Stickleback, GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY (2016), htip://onlinelibrazy.wiley.com/doi/i 0. 111 1/gcb.1353 I/abstract. 59 being outcompeted for resources."' As has been seen with beetles and loss of forest resources, changes in breeding frequency of a single organism can have devastating impacts on species in the same habitat.56 According to a study conducted by the Defenders of Wildlife, "[s]ixteen of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's 38 mammals may be headings for serious trouble.„564 Six species were found to be "extremely vulnerable" to climate change impacts: the polar bear, the arctic fox, the muskox, the tundra vole, the brown lemming, and the collared lemming.565 "Extremely vulnerable" means that "their numbers or range within the refuge will substantially decrease or disappear by 2050. Ten other species were assessed as "highly vulnerable" and projected to decrease significantly by 2050; these include the lynx, wolverine, caribou, Dall sheep, Alaska marmot arctic5 7 round squirrel, singing vole, northern bog lemming, tundra shrew, and barren ground shrew. Impacts to caribou have been particularly pronounced. "Thirty-four of the 43 major herds that scientists have studied worldwide in the last decade are in decline, with caribou numbers plunging 57 percent from their historical peaks. ,568 The consensus is that "the causes of global caribou decline are straightforward: rapidly rising Arctic temperatures are throwing caribou out of sync with the environment in which they evolved [and] oil and gas development [and] logging... in the Far North are impinging on the caribou's range ...... 569 "Under the persistent increase in greenhouse gas concentrations, reduced connectivity" of habitat due to loss of sea ice "may isolate island -dwelling caribou with significant consequences for population viability.1570 Further, climate change threatens caribou because increasing wildfires reduce the availability of slow -to -recover lichens, a major food source.571 In the winter habitat range of the one of the largest caribou herds in the world, the Western Arctic herd, scientists forecast up to a 53% increase in area burned by wildfires by 2099, with up to a 61 % increase in tundra areas in the 562Id.; see also Yereth Rosen, As Water Temperatures Rise, Some Fish Are Breeding Earlier - and More Often, ALASKA DISPATCH NEws (Jan. 29, 2017), ht'ps://www.adn.cotn/alaska-news/science/2017/01/29/as-water- temperatures-warm-some-fish-are-breeding-earlier-and-more-often. 563 See Section VI.B.4.a. 564 565 Cdlimate Change and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Which Species are Most at Risk?, supra note 537. 566Id. - - 567Id. 561 Ed Struzik, A Troubling Decline in the Caribou Herds of the Arctic, YALE ENVIRONMENT 360, YALE SCHOOL of FORESTRY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES (Sept. 23, 2010) http://e360.yale.edu/features/a_ troubling decline 569 -in-the-caribou-herds-of the arctic. Id. 57o D. A. Jenldns et al., Loss of Connectivity Among Island -Dwelling Peary Caribou Abstract, BIOLOGY LETT. 12: 20160235 (2016)Following Sea Ice Decline, , https://www.researchgate nedpubhcation/308398209-Loss_of connectivity following -sea -ice -decline. _among island_dwelling_peary_caribou 171 K. Joly, Simulating the Effects of Climate Change On Fire Regimes In Arctic Biomes: Implications For Caribou And Moose Habitat, 3 ECosPHERE 1-18, �usovn / I U-1085550754.1503695710; K. Joly et al., Fire in the Range o------------ f theYWesterrt Arctic C n'bou Herd, ALASKA PARK SCIENCE 68-73, https://www nps.gov/articles/aps-v8-i2-c12 him. region by 2053 alone, with corresponding impacts on caribou abundance and the subsistence hunters reliant upon them.572 Additionally, climate change poses extreme risks to Alaska moose; rising temperatures are causing the species to move farther north and exposure to the higher number of winter ticks associated with warming can weaken moose's immune systems leading to illness and often death, especially in calves.573 Decreased snowpack and earlier snowmelt associated with climate change leaves snowshoe hares without camouflage, exposing a "critical player[] in forest ecosystems" to greater risk of predation. Alaska's rapidly changing climate was such that snowshoe hares were not even established in northern Alaska until 1977 or 1978 until warming and associated expanded shrub habitat facilitated their introduction — yet another example of changing species ranges effectuated by climate change.575 Anthropogenic climate change also poses imminent threats to Alaska's numerous bud species. Changes in tundra vegetation are predicted to drastically alter the extent and range of songbird breeding habitat.576 Likewise, climate change endangers arctic sea birds dependent on sea ice, such as the ivory gull, leading to their decline.571 Scientists predict that breeding conditions for Arctic migratory birds could shift, contract, and collapse by 2070 due to climate change. ,578 Of 24 shorebird species assessed in one study alone, 66%-83% could lose most of their breeding area and these declines will be fastest in western Alaska.579 Some arctic bird species are seeing a reduction in body size as a result of a warming climate, with cascading effects impacting these species' abilities to feed, and .consequently, their survival.580 In Alaska's 572 Id. 575 U.S. Dept. of Interior, 9 Animals That Are Feeling the Impacts of Climate Change, hop s://www.doi.gov/blog/9- animals-are-feeling-impaas-climate-change. 574 /d. ns K. D. Tape et al., Novel Wildlife in the Arctic: The Influence of Changing Riparian Ecosystems and Shrub Habitat Expansion on Snowshoe Hares, Abstract, 22 GLOBAL CHANGE BIGLOGY 208 19, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.conVdoi/i0.1I I 1/gcb.I3058/abstract; see also T. VoG et a1., Contrasting Impacts of Reindeer Grazing in Two Tundra Grasslands, 12 ENvIRON. act; s LETTERS (2017), http://iopscience.iop.org/article/lo.1088/1748-9326/aa62af, (Detailing changes in vegetation and impact on reindeer due to climate change). 576 See N. T. Boelman et al., Greater Shrub Dominance Alters Breeding Habitat and Food Resources for Migratory Songbirds in Alaskan Arctic Tundra, Abstract, 21 GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 1508 20 (2014, https://www.nebi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25294359). 577 O. Gilg et al., Living on the Edge of a Shrinking Habitat: The Ivory Gull, Pagophila Eburnea, an Endangered Sea -Ice Specialist, 12 BIOLOGY LETT. (2016), https://www.researchgate net/publication/309618358 Livino s a eA-- -C _ Wauchope et al,. Rapid Climate -Driven Loss of Breeding Habitat for Arctic Migratory Birds, Abstract, 23 GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 1085-94 (2016), h0pWonlinelibrary.w ley.com/doU10.1 111/gcb.13404/full. Id.; see also J. Liebezet et al., Assessing Climate Change VulnerabiliTy Arctic Alaska, A r Act of Breeding Birds in A report Prepared for the Arctic Landscape Conservation Cooperative, Wildlife Conservation Sin rcs North America Program, Bozeman, MT. 167 (2012), http://areticicc.org/assets/products/ARCT2011. 11/reports/Vulnerability Assessment_ report—WCS_2012.pdf. 58' J. A. van Gils et al., Body Shrinkage Due to Arctic Warming Reduces Red Knot Fitness in Tropical Wintering Range, Abstract, 352 SCIENCE 819-21 (2016), https://Www.researchgate net/publication/303028008 Body_ shrinkage_due_to Arctic warming reduces_red ]mot— fitness_in_tropical_wintering_range. — 61 boreal forests, climate change is expected to significantly alter the mix of the numerous bird species which inhabittheecosystem: central Alaska could gain as many as 80 species and lose as many as 69 species. In 2015 the Audubon Society published "Audubon's Birds and Climate Report: A Primer for Practitioners.„582 In connection with the report, Audubon published a map set showing the extent of habitat loss projected for 50 of Alaska's bird species, showing that some of the state's most iconic bird species are projected to lose all, or nearly all of their suitable habitat to climate Change.583 The hardest impacts will be on the northern hawk owl, bohemian waxwing, American three -toed woodpecker, merlin, Barrow's goldeneye duck, and red -necked grebe, which will lose 90-100% of their summer habitat and over half their winter habitat. Boreal Owl will lose 100% of winter habitat.511 TheOf 50 birds analyzed for Alaska, all but 3 will lose more than half of their summer habitat and half will lose more than half of their winter habitat.586 This includes common and iconic species such as the bald eagle, loons, and red crossbills.587 P Alaska's insects, important pollinator and prey species in Alaska's complex foodweb, are also threatened by climate change. Studies indicate that climate change is re body size in Arctic butterflies, which affects dispersal capacity and fecunsulting in smaller disuchsuch that ongoing rapid climate change is likely to present severe challenges to such species .58With increased warming and expansion of shrubs into open tundra, scientists predict changes in arthropod abundance, richness, and diversity with "important ecological effects on arctic food webs since arthropods play important ecological roles in the tundra, including in decomposition and trophic interactions."s 9 Further unabated global warming will only lead to a greater likelihood that Alaska's extremely and highly vulnerable animals will decrease in abundance and range.590 (d) Vegetation Climate change also registers profound ecological effects through changes in vegetation. "Global vegetation models predict that boreal forests will shift first at the biome's margins, with evergreen forest expanding into current tundra while being replaced by grasslands or temperate 581 G. M. Langham et al., Conservation Status of North American Birds in the Face of Future Climate Change, 10 582 PL oS ONE e0135350 (2015), http://joumals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/joumal.pone.0135350. Gary Langham, et. al, Audubon's Birds and Climate Change Report: A Primer far Practitioners, NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY (2015), http://Chmate.audubomorg/sites/default/files/NAS_EXTBIRD_V1.3_9.2.15%201b.pdf. 584 See Alaska, NATIONAL SOCIETY, http://Climate,audubon.org/geographical-seazch/alaska. m Id. 585Id. 586Id. 587Id. sa... J. J. Bowden et al., High -Arctic Butterflies Become Smaller with Rising Temperatures, Abstract, 11 BIOLOGY g TT (2015), http://rsbl ToyalsocietypublisHng.org/content/i 1/10/20150574. M. E. Rich et al., Arctic Arthropod Assemblages in Habitats of Differing Shrub Dominance, Abstract, 36 ECOGRAPHY 994-1003 (2013), http://Onlinelibrary:wiley.com/doi/10.1111/i.1600-0587.2012.00078.x/abstract. 590 Climate Change and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Which Species are Most at Risk?, supra note 146. 62 forest at the biome's southern edge.i591 A for a variety of recent study detailed alarming impacts high -latitude evergreens, noting substantial mortality of western hemlock, Sitka spruce, and Yellow -cedar linked to the transition from snowy to rainy winters and projehi mortality rates at northern latitudes as warming worsens.592Warmer tempcting continued eratures allow tree high species previously found at lower altitudes invade, and alter, higher altitude and tundra ecosystems.593 5 Human Health Climate change impacts can also affect human health by: increasing the incidence of accidental injuries, affecting water supply, safety, and quality; affecting food supply, safety, and distribution; in the risk and geographical distribution of parasites, allergens, and vector - borne and infectious diseases; and impacting mental health, among other impacts.s9a Although Alaska's population is estimated to be under 800,000 people,595 Alaska is "on the front lines in dealing with our changing flobal climate," and of one of the first regions to experience the impacts of climate change. 96 As a result, Alaskans are particularly vulnerable to the human health impacts of climate change. Some villagers have even been called America's first "climate refugees."597 Continued global warming will only worsen the health impacts to all Alaskans. 591 P. S. A. Beck et al., Changes in Forest Productivity Across Alaska Consistent with Biome Shift, Abstract. 14 ECOLOGY LETTERS 373-79 (2011), http://onhnelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10. I I I I/j.1461-0248.2011.01598.x/abstract; see also R. K. Danby and D. S. Hik Variability, Contingency and Rapid Change in Recent Subarctic Alpine Tree Line Dynamics, 95 J. ECOLOGY 352 63 (2007), tic alpine tree dynamics. macs.net/public ation/227983418 Variability contingency_and_rapid_change_in_recent_subarc tic alpine_tree line_dynamics. s9z See B. Burns et al., Emerging Climate -Driven Disturbance Processes: Widespread Mortality Associated With Snow -to -Rain Transitions Across 10 ° of Latitude and Half the Range of Climate -Threatened Conifer, GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, https://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/pubmed/27891717. ... Andrea Lloyd et. al., Patterns and Dynamics of Treeline Advance on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 107 JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH ATMOSPHERES 8161 (Jan. 30, 2002), 55ttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/i 0.1029/2001 JD000852/abstract. See generally Alaska Climate Change Strategy's Adaptation Advisory Group Final Report, at 7-1-7-12 (Jan, 2010), http://climatechange.alaska gov/aagtaag.htm; A. Crimmins et al., The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment, US rimmCRP (2016), https://health2O l6.globalchange.gov/downloads; U.S. EPA, Climate and Health Resources Alaska (June 2016), https://Www.epa.90v/sites/Production/files/2016- 11/documents/alaska-fact-sheet.pdf, Michael Brubaker, James Berner, Raj Chavan & John Warren, Climate Change and Health Effects in Northwest Alaska, 4 GLOBAL HEALTH ACTION (2011) htip://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/gha.v4iO.8445- 595 UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU, Alaska Quickfacts, http's://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/02. ... Deke Arndt, Alaska: Last Frontier on the Front Lines, NOAA (May 20, 2016), https://www,ciimate.gov/news- features/blogs/beyond-&LValaska-last-frontier-front-lines-climate-change. 597 See Rosen, supra note 355; see also Kate Shepphard, Climate Change Takes a Village as the Planet Warms, a Remote Alaskan Town Shows Just How Unprepared We Are, HUFFINGTON POST (Jan. 6, 2015), http://www.huffingtonpost.con/2014/12/14/shishmaref-alaska-climate-change-relocation n 6296516 him]; see also Suzanne Goldenberg, America's First Climate Refugees, GUARDIAN (May 13, 2013), httP://www.theguardian.corn/environment/interacHve/2013/may/13/newtok-alaska-climate-change-refugees; see also Adam Wernick, Will These Alaska Villagers be America's First Climate Change Refugees?, PERFORMANCE REVIEW INSTITUTE (August 9, 20"), http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-08-09/will-residents-kivalina-alaska_be-first- climatechange-refugees-us. . 63 Declining sea ice has and will continue to lead, directly and indirectly, to unintentional injuries to Alaskans.'" As sea ice decreases in volume and thickness,599 hunting fishing, and travel become more dangerous.600 Further, loss of sea ice increases the vulnerability of coastal towns and villages to storm surges and increased recipitation and more extreme weather can further increase the risks of floods and drowning.001 These injuries are "already a significant cause of mortality among Arctic residents.s602 Global warming has also led to an increase in dangerous landslides and rockfalls.603 Additionally, rising temperatures and permafrost thaw will greatl 605 y impact the water supply and quality in Alaska. Climate change has already led to changes in Alaska's growing season, and climate change is predicted to result in food scarcity, water scarcity, and an increase of wildfires in Alaska .606 Others, like those residing on Point Hope, face disruption of safe drinking water from a temperature -driven increase in organic material in an Arctic tundra lake.607 Moreover, warming and thawing permafrost releases toxic pollutants like mercury and pesticides into the air and oceans608 and "impacts water availability and water quality....s609 The warming climate causes increased accumulation of mercury in waters and bioaccumulation in 5" See Bmbaker, supra note 594, at 2; see also Tenaya M. Sunbury & David Driscoll, A Human Health Perspective on Climate Changer Promoting Community -Based Adaptation Planning for Climate Change in Alaska, 17 INSTITUTE FOR CIRCUMPOLAR HEALTH STUDIES, UNN ALASKA ANCHORAGE (Nov. 17, 2011), https:!/accap.uaf edu/sites/default/files/2011_l l_Sunbury_health.pdf. ... See Sections VLA.5, VI.B.3.(a). 600 See Brubaker, supra note 594, at 2; see also Alan J. Parkinson & James Berner, Climate change and Impacts on Human Health in the Arctic: An International Workshop on Emerging Threats and the Response of Arctic Communities to Climate Change, 68:1 INTL J. CIRCUMPOLAR HEALTH 84, 84 (Feb. 2608), http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/I0.3402/ijch.v68i1.18295;'see also Chapin, supra note 355, at 517. See Brubaker, supra note 594, at 2; see also Chapin, supra note 355, at 516; see also NOAA, Arctic Weather and Extreme Events, U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit (last modified January 3, 2017), https://toolkit.climate.gov/regions/alaska-and-aretic/arctie-weather-and-extreme-events. b02 Parkinson, supra note 600, at 84. 6°' Temme, A.J.A.M. 2015. Using Climber's Guidebooks to Assess Rock Fall Patterns Over Large Spatial and Decadal Temporal Scales: An Example From the Swiss Alps. GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER: SERIES A, PHYS GEOG 97:793-807, http://otilinelibrary.whey.com/doi/10.1111/geoa.12116/fwl. 604 Brubaker, supra note 594, at 4; O'Donnell, JAI et al.. 2016. Dissolved organic matter composition of Arctic rivers: Linking permafrost and parent material to riverine carbon. Global Biogeochem Cycles 30 (12): 1811-26, https://www.researchgate neUpublication/310816564_Dissolved _organic _matter composition of Arctic _rivers _Lin king�termafrost and_parent material_to_riverme_carbon. U.S. FOREST SERVICE, Climate Change: Anticipated Effects on Ecosystem Services and Potential Actions by the Alaska Region, 6 (2010), http://www fs.usda.gov/lntemet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev2_038171.pdf. aw Chapin, supra note 355, at 516; see also Ed Struzik, Food Insecurity: Arctic Heat Is Threatening Indigenous LIFE, YALE ENVIRONMENT 360, YALE SCHOOL OF FORESTRY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES (March 17, 2016), http://e360.yale.edu/features/arctic_heat threatens indigenous_ life_ climate_ change; see also Elizabeth Grossman, Natural Food, Unnatural Shortages, Alaska Dispatch News (November 22, 2014), https://www.a un alaskans/article/natural-food-natural-shortages/2014/11/23; see also Section VLBA(a). dn.com/we- " Rosen, supra note 355 O' Brubaker, supra note 594, at 4; see also Schuster, PF, et al.. 2011. Mercury export from the Yukon River Basin and potential response to a changing climate. Env Sci Technol 45 (21): 9262-9267, https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70006305 l4q wildlife, including in fish and other wildlife relied upon for traditional subsistence diets .610 Increased wildfires from climate change also means that the mercury emitted from these fires will serve only to compound this problem.611 Climate impacts to Alaska's hydrologic resources can result in "damag[e] and disrupt[ion to] water and sanitation infrastructure, ,612 ultimately leading to infectious diseases, like food- and water -borne diseases.613 And, according to the CDC, Alaska should expect cholera outbreaks due to warming ocean water.614 Changes to the quality and quantity of Alaska's water systems will have a multitude of significant direct and indirect impacts on Alaskans' health. Further, "[cllimate change is melting permafrost soils that have been frozen for thousands of years, and as the soils melt they are releasing ancient viruses and bacteria that, having lain dormant, are springing back to life."615 The dangers of exposure to permafrost -preserved pathogens was realized in 2016 when 2,000 reindeer and r least twenty people contracted anthrax after thawing permafrost exposed a, infected reindeer corpse, which had died 75 years earlier. 616 One twelve year old boy lost his life as a result of exposure to the disease. Scientists fear that thawing permafrost could expose people to additional pathogens, "including some that have caused global epidemics in the past. ,6 7 Alaska's climate change induced warming increases the risk and exposure of animals and humans alike to vector home diseases including, brucellosis, toxoplasmosis, trichenellosis, 6" See, Came, J, et al.. 2010. Increasing contaminant burdems in an Arctic fish, burbot (Lola Iota) in a warming climate. Environ Sci Technol 44: 316-22, http://pubs.acs.org/doilabs/10.1021/es902582y; Chetelat, J and M Amyot. 2009, Elevated methylmercury in High Arctic Daphnia and the role of productivity in controlling their distribution. Global Change Biology 15: 706-718, http://onlinclibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/i.1365-2486.2008.01729.x/abstract; Gaden, A, et al., 2009. Mercury trends in ringed seals (Phoca hispida) from the Western Canadian Arctic since 1973; associations with length of ice -free seasons. Environ Sci Technol 43: m3646-3988, http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/IO.1021/es803293z; Hamerschmidt, CR, et al., 2006. Biogeochemical cycling of methylmercury in lakes and tundra watersheds of Arctic Alaska, Environ Sci Techno140: 1204-1211, https://www.researchgatenet/publication/7206207_Biogeochen cal_Cycling_of Methylmercury in Lakes_and_Tu ndra Watersheds of Arctic Alaska; St. Pierre, KA, et al., 2014. Temperature and the su y4r cycle control monomethylmercury cycling in high Arctic coastal marine sediments from Allen Bay, Nunavut, Canada, Environ Sci Technol 48: 2680-2687, (2014), download available at https://Www.researchgate net/publication/260370410 Temperature_ and _the_Sulfur Cycle_ Control_Monomethylme rcuryCycling_in_High—Arctic_Coastal_Marine_ Sediments_from_Allen_Bay _Nunavut Canada. 61 See Wiedinmyer, C and H Friedli. 2007. Mercury emission estimates from fires: an initial inventoryfor the United States. Environ Sci Technol 41: 8092-9098, http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es07l289o. Brubaker, supra note 594 at 3. 6" Sunbury, supra note 598, at 17. b14 See Brian Owens, Warming seas linked to rise in cholera bacteria in Europe and US, NEW SCIENTIST (Aug. 8, 2016) ("We have seen Vibrio outbreaks in places that were previously. too cold for Vibrio, like parts of Alaska," says Karen Wong, from CDC's division of foodbome, waterborne and environmental diseases."), available at https://www.newscientist.com/article/2100371-warming-seas-linked-to-rise-in-cholera-bacteria-in-europe-and-us. Jasmin Fox -Skelly, There are Diseases Hidden in Ice, and They Are Waking Up, BBC (May 4, 2017), https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-06-24/thawing-permafrost-could-have-catastrophic-consequences-scientists-wam. 6161d. 617 Id. 65 giardasis/cryptosporidiosis, echinococcosis, rabies, and tulameria.618 A changing climate also exposes Alaskans to substantial increases in insect stings and airborne allergens.619 Finally, extreme weather events like heavy rain, flooding, and drought can have dire health impacts, particularly among villages on the coast.620 For instance, as already experienced in the village of Newtok, stonn surges "can raise tide levels 10 to 15 feet above normal" and cause severe flood events, which can "permeate the village water supply, spread contaminated waters through the community, displace residents from homes, destroy subsistence food storage, and shut down essential utilities."62I 6. Impacts on Alaska Native Communities Alaska Native communitieshave been "among the fast American populations to feel the effects of global climate change. s Most Alaska Native communities have historically lived on water — either along the shores of Alaska's seas or the banks of its rivers — migrating to inland and coastal locations seasonally.623 In the past 30 years, 100-300 feet of coastline has washed away from the north coast of Alaska between the U.S.-Canadian border and Icy Cae,624 and according to the U.S. Geological Study, 84 percent of the Alaska coast is eroding.6 5 This is shoreline lost to all Alaskans, but it is Alaska Native communities — collectively making up 618 See., e.g., Karsten Hueffer et al., Zoonotic Infections in Alaska: Disease Prevalence, Potential Impact of Climate Change and Recommended Actions for Earlier Disease Detection, Research, CIRCUMPOLAR HEALTH (2013), https://www.nPrevention and Control, 72 INTL J. big cbi Dim nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3568173/pdf/IJCH-72-19562.pdf. Umair Irfan, Climate Change Expands Allergy Risk, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN (April 30, 2012), https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-expands-allergy-risk; Eliza Barclay, Stinging wasps moving north due to global warming?, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC NEWS (July 16, 2008), http://news.nationaigeographic.com/news/2008/07/080716-wasps-stings.html; Jeffrey Demain & Bradford Gessner, Increasing Incidence of Medical Visits Due to Insect Stings in Alaska, STATE OF AK EPIDEMIOLGGy BULL, (May 2, 2008), http://eplbulletins.dhss.alaska.gov/Document/Display?Doc; mentId=242. b20Id.; see also Brubaker, supra note 594, at 3-4, see also Parkinson, supra note 163, at 84; see generally Jacob Bell, Mike Brubaker, Kathy Graves & Jim Berner, Climate Change and Mental Health: Uncertainty and Vulnerabilityfor Alaska Natives, CENTER F OR CLIMATE AND HEALTH (CCH Bulletin No. 3, April 14, 2010), available at http://anthc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/CCH-Bulletin-No-3-Mental-HealtILpdf. ss621 See COMMUNITY OF NEWTOK AND THE NEWTOK PLANNING GROUP, Relocation Report: Newtok to Mertarvik (Aug. 2011), https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portalr/4/pub/Mertarvik_RelOcation—Report final.pdf. Daniel Cordalis & Dean B. Suagee, The Effects of Climate Change on American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes, 22 NAT. RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT 45, 47 (2008), https://www.ainericanbar.org/content/dani/aba/publications/naturaLresources_environment/2008Z23_winter/nre_win08 cordalis suagee.authcheckdam.pdf. Robin Bronen, Climate -Induced Displacement of Alaska Native Communities, ALASKAN IMMIGRATION JUSTICE PROJECT (Jan, 30, 2013), http://Www.brool ings.edu/—/media/research/files/papers/2013/i/30-arctic-alaska- bronen/30-climate-alaska-bronen-paper.pdf. ... Ann E. Gibbs et al., National Assessment of Shoreline Change —A GIS Compilation of Vector Shorelines and Associated Shoreline Change Data for the North Coast of Alaska, U.S.-Canadian Border to Icy Cape: U.S. Geological Survey Open -File Report 2015-1030, http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2015/1030; see also Margot Roosevelt, Vanishing Alaska: Global Warming is Flooding Villages Along the Coast. Should They Surrender and Move?, TIME (Sept. 27, 2004), http://Content.tinie.conVtime/magazine/article/0,9171,995264,OO.html,Associated Press, Erosion Eating Away at Northern Coast, USGS Says, FOX NEws (July 2, 2015), http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/07/02/erosion-eating-away-a; northern-alaska-coast-usgs-says html. 625 Associated Press, supra note 624. nearly 15% of Alaska's total population626 _ who are becoming "climate refugeesi627 in their own state. "Alaska Native, and other indigenous communities across the U.S. share unique historical and cultural relationships with tribal or ancestral lands, significantly shaping their identities and adaptive opportunities. ,628 This deep connection with the land is integral to Alaska Natives' culture: Alaskan.land and water has sustained these communities for thousands of years — physically and spiritually.' However, this unique relationship to the environment and land has left Alaska Native communities extremely vulnerable to climate change impacts. Climate change impacts observed by Alaska Native communities, including thinning sea and river ice, thawing permafrost, changes in human, plant, and animal health and lives, and rising sea levels, "indicate a widespread awareness that climate is changing in ways that were not anticipated based on traditional knowledge.i630 Changes in sea and river ice have affected the fishing and hunting of traditional animals, which is important both "nutritionally and culturally."631 "Changing sea ice patterns affect the animals themselves as well as access to them by hunters."632 T Tinning sea and river ice has made fishing and hunting marine animals, like walrus and seals, more dangerous and difficult, while also changing migratory patterns.633 Climate change is impacting the health and livelihoods of many Alaska Native communities.634 "Examples of negative health effects include loss of critical infrastructure such 626 Quickfacts - Alaska, US CENSUS, https:/iwww.census.gov/quickfacts/tabl'/PST045215/02. 62' See, Yereth Rosen, Populations on The Rise in Alaskan Villages Threatened by Erosion, Changing Climate, ALASKA DISPATCH NEWS (July 10, 2016), http://www.adn-com/arctic/2016/07/10/populations-on-the-rise-in-alaska villages -threatened -by -erosion -changing -climate. " Bennett, T. M. B.,et al., Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment., Ch. download available at Indigenous Peoples, Lands, and Resources downlo, U.S. GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH PROGRAM, 297_317 (2014), uochra CLIMATE CHANGE et IN Indigenous Frameworksfor Observing and Responding to .... Climate Change in Alaska, in CLIMATE CHANGE AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES 50 (JULIE KOPPEL MALDANADO ET AL, eds., 2014), ° Id. at 51-52.; see also Robin Bronen & Denise Pollock, Rights, Resilience, and Community -Led Relocation: Perspectives from Fifteen Alaska Native Communities, ALASKA INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE 2017, http://www.alcijp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AIJ-Final-Adaptation-Workshop-Publication.pdf. 63' Cochran supra note 629, at 52. ... henry P. Huntington, Lori T. Quakenbush, Mark Nelson, Effects of Changing Sea Ice on Marine Mammals and Subsistence Hunters in Northern Alaska From Traditional Knowledge Interviews, 12 BIOLOGY LETT. (Aug. 4, 633 2016), bttp://rsbl.royalsocietypubHshing.org/content/roybiolett/12/8/20160198 full.pdf. Cochran, supra note 629, at 50. 63A See Michael Brubaker et al., Climate Change in Kivalma, Alaska: Strategies for Community Health, ALASKA NATIVE TRIBAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM (Jan. 2011), 67 as water distribution systems from erosion and flooding, food insecurity related to poor harvest, spoiling of food or low confidence in the safety of food, increases in risk of injury related to working and traveling in an uncertain or dangerous environment, and mental stress related to difficult or frightening conditions and uncertainty about the future. ,635 Thawing permafrost can increase the risk of skin and respiratory infections, and magnify the risk of failure or lack of adequate drinking water systems, sanitary sewage disposal, and usable landfills.636 Additionally, severe wildfires, which are increasingly occurring, "increase risk to life and property, alter hunting opportunities" and present risks of "both physical and mental health effects from wildfire smoke. ,637 These effects are particularly disruptive for subsistence Native communities. However, it is "the village relocation issue" that the Alaska Climate Impacts Assessment Commission found to be "perhaps the most striking" of the myriad impacts threatening Alaska.63s Due to the melting of ice and glaciers, the thawing of permafrost, and the increase of storms and precipitation, 9n, Alaska Native villages are suffering from an unprecedented rate of flooding and erosion. This flooding and erosion is literally consuming Native landandthus a large swath of Alaska Native culture and heritage --forcing entire communities to abandon their homes and relocate. The impacts of relocation are as dire as they are complex, and "ft]he convergence of immediate threats, substantial human need, and prohibitive costs presents decision -makers at all levels of government with daunting challenges.s640 Climate change has caused and will continue to cause community relocation. Thus, until CO2 levels are lowered and df; ANTHC, Community Observations on Climate Change., Arctic Village, Fort Yukon and Venetie, Alaska (Nov. 2016), http://anthc.org/wp-content/uploada/2016/01/Upper-Yukon-River-Climate-Assessment-Final.pdf; Michael Brubaker et al, Climate Change in the Bering Strait Region (March 2015) http://anthc.orgtwp. content/uploads/2016/Ol/CCH_AR 032015_Climate-Chnge-Bering-Strait-Region.pdf; Sue Flensburg, at al., Community Observations on Climate Change: Nushagak River Trip Report, (Sept. 2014) http://anthc.org/wp- content/uploads/2016/01/CCH AR 092014_Climate-Change-and-Upper-Nushagak-River.pdf; mid other Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Assessment Reports, available at httn://anthc_nro/, h-3; see also Es OF NORTHWEST INDIANS, Resolution #16-52�(2016) (ATNIt% rregionatorganization comprised ofAmericc n Indians/Alaska Natives and tribes in the states of... Alaska" notes in its resolution asking for federal government action and consultation regarding climate change issues unique to each tribe, that "a growing body of literature illustrates the unique issues facing Tribes regarding climate change."), hhttp://www.atnitribes.org/sites/default/files/Res-16-52.pdf. Michael Brubaker, et al., Climate in the Bering Strait Region, ALASKAN NATIVE TRIBAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM 56 (March — 2015),https://anthc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/0l/CCH_AR_032015 Region.pdf. Climate -Change -Bering -Strait- . "AFFILIATED TRIBES OF NORTHWEST INDIANS, Resolution #16-52 (2016), supra note 634; see also ALASKA NATIVE TRIBAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM ASSESSMENT REPORTS, http://anthc.orQlwhat-we-do/c.n—.,,.,;r.,_ "" Cochran, supra note 629. _ 63' ALASKA CLIMATE IMPACT ASSESSMENT COMMISSION, Final Report to the Legislature, March 17, 2008, https://climatechange.almka.gov/aag/does/097F I7502.pdf. ... See U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE, Report to Congressional Committees: Alaska Native Villages: Most Are Affected by Flooding and Erosion, but Few Qualify for Federal Assistance (Dec. 2003), http://Www.gao.gov/new.items/d04l42.pdf [hereinafter "GAO 2003"]; see also GAO, Alaska Native Villages: Limited Progress Has Been Made on Relocating Villages Threatened by Flooding and Erosion (June 3, 2009), hhttttp://Www.gao.gov/asseW300/290468.pdf [hereinafter "GAO 2009"]; Bremen, supra note 630. Final Commission Report to the Alaska State Legislature, ACIAC 3 (Mar. 17, 2008), http://climatechange.alaska.gov/aag/docs/097Fl7SO2.pdf. GF a healthy atmosphere and stable climate system are restored, Alaska's decision -makers will continue to be confronted by the daunting challenge and tragic reality climate change -induced Native village displacement. (a) Living Along Water Alaska is surrounded by saltwater bodies on three sides - the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas to the north, the Bering Sea to the west, and the Gulf of Alaska to the South.641 In addition to over 33,000 miles of shoreline (more than 50% of the entire U.S. coastline)642, Alaska has more than 3,000 rivers, including the major interior river systems of the Yukon and the Kuskokwim Rivers.643 Many Alaska Native communities reside near the sea or river waters; waters on which they rely for hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants for food.644 These sustenance activities are deeply imbedded into the Alaska Natives' lives and promote the basic values of their culture - "generosity, respect for elders, self-esteem for the successful hunters, and community cooperation."has However, "[w)hile villages on Alaska's shorelines and river banks provide Alaska Natives with access to food, transportation, and recreational and cultural benefits, these locations also present dangers to the inhabitants."645 (b) Flooding and Erosion Flooding and erosion are the biggest threats to many Alaska Native villayges imposed by climate change, with some villages losing up to 50 to 75 feet of land each year."47 According to the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and. Emergency Management, as of 2009, 228 flooding events had led to state disaster declarations for 119 different Alaska communities since 1978.64 The frequency and severity of these events are increasing and climate change worsens. In 2009, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported about 40 percent of those flooding disasters occurred between 2000 and 2008, "with 23 occurring in 2005, the worst year on record. One reason for such significant flooding and erosion is the thawing of permafrost, which is a consequence of rising temperatures.610 Thawing permafrost causes village shorelines and riverbanks to slump and erode, which threatens homes and infrastructure.65temperatures 1 Rising te also threaten the sea ice that forms along the western and northern coasts of Alaska; to as temperatures rise, sea ice loses thickness, extent, and duration, which leaves shorelines more 60' GAO 2009, supra note 639, at 4. 643 ALASKA.ORG, How Big is Alaska?, http://www.alaska.org/how-big-is-alaska/Texas. GAO 2009, supra note 639, at 4. 64° Id. at 6. 645Id 6467d. 647 Jess Colarossi, This Community in Alaska is Relocating Because of Climate Change, CLIMATE PROGRESS (Oct. 6, 22015), https.//thinkprogress.org/this-community-in-alaska-is-relocating-because-of-climate-change-86d4ol273eb/. GAO 2009, supra note 639, at 6-7. "'Id. at 7. - 650Id., see also supra B.1.3 (section on melting and permafrost). "' GAO 2009, supra note 639, at 7. vulnerable to waves and storm surges.652 The loss of sea ice, along with thawing pennafrost, accelerates the erosion threatening Alaska Native villages.653 . In 2003, GAO reported that 184 out of 213, or 86 percent of Alaska Native villages experience climate change impacts of flooding and erosion,654 and found that four of the nine villages assessed in the report — Kivalina, Koyukuk, Netwok, and Shishmaref — were in imminent threat of flooding and erosion.655 Fourteen years later, these villages remain in imminent danger of losing their Native land to flooding and erosion due to a lack of sufficient funding for the relocation process, a relocation site, and partnering with governmental organizations.656 In fact, by 2009 the number of villages identified as "imminently threatened by flooding and erosion" had risen from four to thirty-one.657 (See figure 4 from GAO 2009 below.) Figure 4: 652 Id. 653Id 654 GAO 2003, supra note 639, at 2. 6s3Id. at 27. 666 See UNN. OREGON TRIBAL CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT, Climate Change; Realities of Relocation for Alaska Native Village, UNiv. OREGON 1 (April 2011), http://tribalclimate.uoregon.edu/files/2010/11/AlaskaRelocation 04- 13-11.pdf; see also John D. Sutter, Tragedy of a City Built on Ice, CNN (Mar. 29, 2017), http://www.cnn.con/2017/03/29/us/suffer-shishmaref-esau-tragedy; Michael Walsh, This Tiny Alaska Town Is Leading the Way on Climate Change, YAHOO! NEWS (Apr. 21, 2017), https://www.yahoo.com/news/alaskan- village-fights-survival-island-disappears-170730957 html. 617 GAO 2009, supra note 639, at 12. 70 FIgYrY 6: Ldall•In oT 91 plaske Natfue Vlllegas Immirlenlly ihreatena ey Plootllna and Etnalen 89Rf/.Y KNaline Akakaket Shbhmara •Solawik • for Ing •Hugm. Ka,•Uk p •Huslia Shaktoolk Nulato nalakleat KoWk -In;Michael plaanuk Ern o k •McGm,.h Chars Nunapechuk :kro vulage NowtA •Akiak Napaklak Chelmnak Eyat Kwt Ik {CONora) INOng [Hitlngham ClaMa Pak¢ Port Holden t i • 31 nni�+mly m•c�reuaenaaa, --------------------- (c) Relocation For Alaska Native communities, relocating an entire community from its land "represents breaking from uniquely adapted traditions that took thousands of years to develop.0658 Alaska Native peoples "continue to have a deep relationship with ancestral homelands for sustenance, religious communion and comfort, and to maintain the strength of personal and inter -familiar identities. Through language, songs, and ceremonies, tribal people continue to honor sacred springs, ancestral burial places, and other places where ancestral communities remain alive: ,659 The spiritual connection between many Native Nations and their surrounding environment is crucial to the sovereignty of these nations and to individual personhood.660 Relocation can sever these deep and long-standing honored connections, forever changing personal and cultural identities in the process.661 csa UNN. OREGON TRIBAL CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT, supra note 656, at 1. as9 Mary Christina Wood & Zachary Welcker, Tribes as Trustees Again (Part I): The Emerging Tribal Role in the Conservation Trust Movement, 32 HARv. ENVTL. L. REv. 373, 381 (2008), http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/whosewho/tribestrusteesBecky.pdf. "'Id. at 424. "'It should be noted, however, that relocation of Native communities is an issue far broader and more complex than can be addressed here, as we examine it solely through the climate change impacts lens. For a fuller examination of relocation, see, e.g., Emilie S. Cameron, Securing Indigenous Politics: A Critique of the Vulnerability and 71 Relocation is extremely costly. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has estimated the cost of relocation in the $100-200 million range per village.662 But staying is costly, too. As protective ice barriers melt and coastlines erode, coastal villages fmd themselves in need of costly infrastructure repair."' Unfortunately, the fact that future relocation is inevitable (unjustly) works against villages in need of financial assistance for immediate crucial infrastructure support — leaving villages stuck in a "catch-22".664 Nevertheless, despite the devastating psychological, culture and financial costs, climate change impacts have left residents of these villages little choice but to begin the relocation process.665 Three villages have started working to find a suitable relocation site with local agencies: Shishmaref, Newtok, and Kivalina.666 0) Shishmaref The village of Shishmaref, with a po�Julation of 563,617 is called the "most extreme example of global warming on the planet.,, bs Village residents are directly affected by climate change and may be the world's first climate change refugees.669 Shishmaref is located on the western coast of Alaska, on a barrier island of the Chukchi Sea.670 The village has been inhabited for over 4,000 years, and has always depended on the surrounding ice for food, water, and protection against storm surges.671 In the last few decades, Shishmaref has lost over 40% of the surrounding sea ice, which has led to evacuations for more than 10 homes in the village .672. Adaptation Approach to the Human Dimensions of Climate Change in the Canadian Arctic, GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE (Feb. 2012), http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378011001919 (focusing in particular on -the exclusion of colonialism from the study of human vulnerability and adaptation to climatic change, the framing of Indigenous peoples and communities in terms of the local and the traditional, and 662 thb the ways in which efforts to improve the lives of northern Indigenous peoples risk perpetuating colonial relations). UNIV. OREGON TRIBAL CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT, supra note 656, at 1-2 (estimating cost of relocating Kivalina: $95-$125 million, Shishmaref. $100-$200 mullion, andNewtok: $80-$130 million). 66J GAO 2009, supra note 639, at I ("Flooding and erosion have caused millions of dollars of property damage in these remote villages, and in some cases, poses imminent threats to lives, homes, and infrastructure.,,). ' Erica Goode, A Wrenching Choice for Alaska Towns in the Path of Climate Change, N.Y. TIMES (Nov. 29, 2016), http://www.nytimes.com/mteractive/2016/11/29/science/alaska-global-warming him] ("Even announcing the intention to relocate can scuttle a community's request for financing. Some years ago, when Shaktoolik indicated on bast proposal that it was hoping to move, it lost funds for its clinic, said Isabel Jackson, the city clerk."). It should be finther noted that while these communities may be forced to relocate, they are also seizing relocation as an opportunity to represent their own vision of their future and to make plans for how to manifest those plans into village designs that take into account aspirations for more self -determined futures. See Re -Locate, Frontline Communities Are Making the Post -Climate World, CREATIVE TIME REPORTS (Dec. 11, 2015), http://creativetimereports.org/2015/12/1 I/relocate-kivalina. 666 GAO 2009, supra note 639, at 27. 667 Population Demographics for Shishmaref, Alaska for 2016 and 2017, SUBURBAN STATS., h tttps://Suburbanstats.org/populationlalaska/how-many-people-live-in-sWshmaref. 1 David Willis, Sea Engulfing Alaskan Village, BBC NEws (July 30, 2004), ------- -'David James, More Than Global Warming Afflicts Endangered Shishmaref, ALASKA DISPATCH NEWS (Mar. 27, 2016), http://www.adn.com/books/article/more-global-warming-afflicts-endangered-shisbmaref/2016/03/27. 6677 0 1 11Id.N'V. OREGON TRIBAL CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT, supra note 656, at 3. 672 Id. 72 Rising temperatures, and the consequential reduction in sea ice and thawing permafrost, have ex�osed the village to erosion from Arctic storms, which are becoming increasingly serious. 73 The villages' homes and infrastructure are threatened by this erosion, which has taken as much as 15 meters of land overnight in one stOM1.674 Shishmaref has developed erosion control structures to protect the village from storm surges, now that surrounding sea ice —which used to offer protection —is no longer present .675 In 2001, the State spent approximately $100,000 to install sand -filled gabions along the worst hit shoreline.6 6 In 2004 and 2005, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the community, installed over 600 feet of shoreline protection.677 Also in 2001, Shishmaref started exploring the possibility of relocation, and in 2002 the Shishmaref Erosion and Relocation Coalition was formed by the governing members of the city, Indian Reorganization Council, and the Shishmaref Native Corporation Board of Directors.671 The Shishmaref Erosion and Relocation Coalition developed a strategic relocation plan in 2 which was funded by the Alaska Division of Emergency Services for a cost of $50,000.679 001, Although the plan recognized steps that needed to be taken in order to relocate the village, it did not "identify or recommend a new village site."680 In 2004, the Shishmaref Erosion and Relocation Coalition selected Tin Creek as the community's relocation site.681 However, in 2008 after six studies conducted over four years, the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities determined that Tin Creek was unsuitable as a relocation site due to the thawing permafrost the land sits on As of July 2015, the City of Shishmaref was working on a Site Selection Feasibility Study to allow the community to "identify a new village location that is safe, stable, and sustainable.',683 In 2009, the Alaska Climate Change Impact Mitigation Program granted the City of Shishmaref money to conduct a Shishmaref Relocation Plan Update.684 The report indicated that in 2010, the cost of relocation could exceed $214 million over 15 years; the estimated financial cost to not relocate could exceed $112 million."' In March 2009, the Immediate Action Workgroup, appointed by former -Governor Sarah Palin, found that "Shishmaref has been threatened by erosion for many years with recent increases due to the lack of sea ice during the 673 Hassol, supra note 354, at 80. 674 Id. 675 Shishmaref Strategic Management Plan (Draft), 9 (Aug. 4, 2015), https://Www-cOmmerce-alaska.gov/web/Portals/4 i.ub/091615 DRAFT_SMP— Background_Report_Sbishmarefpdf. 676d 677Id. 678 UNIV. OREGON TRIBAL CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT, supra note 656, at 3. 679 Shishmaref Strategic Management Plan, supra note 675, at 9. 68o Id. 68. Id. at 10. 6627d. 683 Id 684 Id 695 Id. 73 fall storm season.i686 According to the Immediate Action Workgroup's report, funding is needed to continue ShishmarefS relocation effort.687 On August 18, 2016, Shishmaref residents voted 89 to 78 to relocate their village to "one of two sites on the smainland about five miles away. ,611 However, the community has no money to fund the move. Further, since the only feasible relocation destinations are inland, "hunters and fishers would not be able to access the sea easily" such that "[slome people in the community —particularly elders — believe the move threatens the tribe's Inupiat identity.s690 00 Newtok "Not that long ago the water was far from our village and could not be easily seen from our homes. Today the weather is changing and is slowly taking away our village. Our boardwalks are warped, some of our buildings tilt, the land is sinking and falling away, and the water is close to our homes. Our infrastructure that supports our village is compromised and affecting the health and wellbeing of our community members, especially our children. " Moses Carl, Newtok, 2012"' The village of Newtok has been referred to as "the sinking village" due to severe flooding, erosion, and risin seas, and as a "possible national model" for moving villages threatened by climate change.69 The village has already lost its barge landing, sewage lagoon, and landfill to erosion and thawing permafrost, expects to lose its source of drinking water in 2017, and even the school, which sits 9atop 20-foot pilings and is the highest place in the village, could be underwater by 2020. The Yup'ik people of Newtok have lived on the Yukon-Kushkokwim 6a6 Immediate Action Workgroup, Recommendations to the Governor's Subcabinet on Climate Change, STATE OF AL ASKA 55 (Mar. 2009), http://climatechange,alaska.g6v/docs/iaw final[pt_12mar09.pdf Id. 6es See Christopher Mele & Daniel Victor, Reeling from Effects of Climate Change, Alaskan Village Votes to Relocate, N.Y. TIMES (Aug. 20, 2016), http://www.nytiines.com/2016/08/20/us/shishmuef-alaska-elocate-vote- climate-change him]. 6e1 Lisa Demer, Shishmaref Votes to Relocate from Eroding Barrier Island to Mainland, AL.ASKA DISPATCH NEws (Aug. 18, 2016); https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2016/08/18/eroding-village-of-shishmaref-votes-in-favorof- relocating-to-mainland-a-key-step; John D. Scutter, Tragedy of a Village Built on Ice, CNN (Mar, 29, 2-favo http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/29/us/sutter-shishmaref-esau-tragedy. Scutter, supra note 689. 691 Quote from Moses Carl, a member of the Yup'ik Eskimo community who lives in Newtok, AK, given to the Alaska Department of Commerce and Community and Economic Development. Alaska Department of Commerce and Community and Economic Development, 2012: Strategic Management Plan: Newtok to Mertarvik (2012) reprinted in Chapin, supra note 355, at 518; see also Community of Newtok and the Newtok Planning Gro Mertarvik -Relocation Report., Newtok Newtok to Mertarvik, STATE OF AK DEP'T OF COMMERCE, COMMONrrY, & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIVISION OF COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS, at 2 (Aug.2011), https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/4/pub/Mertarvik_Relocation_Repo (Aug. 011 6sz Colarossi, supra note 647. 6' Id; Rachel Waldholz, Alaska Village, Citing to Climate Change, Seeks Disaster Relief in Order to Relocate NPR (Jan. 10, 2017), http://www.npr.org/2017/01/10/509176361/alaskan-village-citing-climate-change-seeks-disaste relief -in -order -to -relocate. 74 Delta in western Alaska for over 2,000 years.694 The village of Newtok is the "only one of Alaska's several threatened communities that has begun a physical move,„69s however, the move is not far along at all.696 Located over permafrost, which has been thawing due to rising temperatures, Newtok has experienced a loss of about 50 to 75 feet of land per year due to climate change induced erosion 697 The thawing permafrost is "sinking, knocking down homes and villages out of alignment.sG91 The village is encircled by the Ninglick River (which is tidally influenced and connects Baird Inlet from the Bering Sea), whose raging waters have been "eating the land out from under the village,"699 causing Newtok to lose an average of 72 feet of land per year, with the highest observed rate at 300 feet per year.700 The Newtok River, once a free -flowing river, was captured by the Ninglick River in 1996 "nearly overnight" making the village "more susceptible to storm surges on the Ninglick due to the direct hydrologic connection." 701 The Newtok River became a slough, makig it nearly impossible for commercial vessels to navigate to the village, as thel previously had.70 The erosion in Newtok has essentially made it more isolated than ever.70 Newtok is also extremely prone to floods due to powerful storm surges that can "raise tide levels 10 to 15 feet above normal and severe flood events."704 Between 2002 and 2013, the village of Newtok experienced seven floods, six of which were federally declared disasters.705 The storms led to severe impacts, including flooded water supplies, raw sewage spread throughout the village, displaced residents, destroyed subsistence food storage, and the shutdown of essential utilities.706 In fact, the raging "20-year storm" of 2005 temporarily turned the village into an island.707 '"Lisa Demer, The Creep of Climate Change, AK DISPATCH NEws (Aug. 29, 2015), http://www.adn.com/rural- alaska/article/threatened-newtok-not-waiting-disintegrating-village-stages-move-new-site/2015/08/30. 6" Associated Press, Alaska Seeks Federal Money to Move a Village Threatened by Climate Change, N.Y. TmtEs (Oct. 3, 2015), https://www.nyfines.com/2015/10/04/us/alaska-seeks-federal-money-to-move-a-village-threatened by-climate-change.html. 6 Alana Semuels, The Village That Will Be Swept Away, ATLANTIC (Aug. 30, 2015), http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/OS/alaska-village climate change/402604. 0, Colsrossi, supra note 647; see also Cochran, supra note 629, at 53. 6vs Asociated Press, supra note 695. 6" Colarossi, supra note 647 70o Sally Russel Cox, Strengthening Local Resilience Through Community -Based Adaptation Efforts, RIGHTS, RESII.IENCE AND COMMt1NM BASED ADAPTATION WORISSHop , ALASKA DIVISION OF COMMUNITj' AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS (Sept 20, 2016), https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/4/pub/Rights_ Resilience_ AND REGIONAL Based_Adaptation_workshop.pdf. 7munity- 01 Community of Newtok and the Newtok Planning Group, supra note 691, at 6. 702 Id. 703 Semuels, supra note 696. 70° Alaska Department of Commerce and Community and Economic Development, supra note 691, at 7. 705 Phil Daquila, Losing Place and Losing Hope, NATURAL HAZARDS CENTER (Apr. 28, 2016), https://hazards.colorado.edu/article/losing-place-and-losing-hope-newtok-schallenging joumey-to-higher-ground. 706 id. 707 Semuels, supra note 696. 75 Severe flooding and erosion have impacted the health and safety of Newtok village residents.708 "Flood waters wash honey bucket waste from the Newtok River back into the village while the risk of permanent salination of the community's drinking water source potentially poses the most immediate threat to the community.009 Further, between 1994 and 2004, almost 30 percent of infants in Newtok were hospitalized due to lower respiratory tract infections, which were linked to the substandard sanitation conditions, including "inadequate potable water for drinking and personal hygiene, human waste contamination, and household crowding.s710 The lack of adequate health and safety measures in Newtok can be explained by federal and state agencies' divestment driven by a "desire not to waste funds and maintaining infrastructure in the existing village when the community intends to move."711 Newtok residents are extremely connected to their land, and the village has already moved once in 1949, from Old Kealavik to its current site, to "avoid flooding and [to] find suitable ground for a new school."712 The current relocation process for Newtok began in 1994, and the Newtok residents had selected Mertarvik as their relocation site in 1996.713 After years of negotiation, Newtok Native Corporation acquired Mertarvik's 10,9I acres from the U.S. Department of Interior on November 17, 2003.714 In 2006, the Newtok Planning Group (NPG was established by the Newtok community, government agencies, and non -governmental ) organizations, and has been identified as "a model for local community, state, and federal partnerships to address complex issues.,,715 NPG works "across agencies to secure funding and establish a framework and strategy for pushing the relocation process forward.s716 However, NPG has faced many challenges in the relocation process, including a lack of ample funding, sufficient guidance, and a reliable agency to take charge.717 Despite the many challenges amidst the relocation process, progress has been made towards creating a new life for the climate change refugees of Newtok. NPG, along with the Governor's Sub -Cabinet on Climate Change's Immediate Action Work Group, obtained funding for the "community for 18he development of several initial or groundwork laying infrastructure projects at Mertarvik. Newtok resident's have secured funding towards building new structures like roads, a clinic, an airport, and an em74ency evacuation center, as well as transporting structurally sound buildings and homes. 9 So far, about $27 million has been 708Id.; Alaska Department of Commerce and Community and Economic Development, supra note 691, at 1; Immediate Action Workgroup, supra note 686, at 1; see also Cochran, supra note 629, at 53. 70' Alaska Department of Commerce and Community and Economic Develment, supra note 691, at 7. "0 Daquila, supra note 62. op n 'Alaska Department of Commerce and Community and Economic Development, supra note 691, at 7. 712 Id. at 7. 713 UNIV. OREGON TRIBAL CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT, supra note 656, at 3. 714 Alaska Department of Commerce and Community and Economic Development, supra note 691, at 8. "' Immediate Action Workgroup, supra note 686, at 6; see also UNIv. OREGON TRIBAL CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT, supra note 656, at 6. 717 Alaska Department of Commerce and Community and Economic Development, supra note 691, at 9. Id.; see also Semuels, supra note 696; Cochran, supra note 629, at 53. �w Alaska Department of Commerce and Conununity, and Economic Development, supra note 691, at 9. Anna Rose MacArthur, Federal Grant Helps Newtok Village Relocate Due to Erosion ofNingliq River, ALASKA PUBLIC (May 19, 2016), http://Www.alaskapublic.org/2016/05/19/federal-grant-helps-newtok-village-relocate-due- to-erosion-of-ningliq-river. 76 invested in. Mertarvik and in needed investments in Newtok.720 Initial infrastructure projects in Mertarvik include the "construction of a barge landing, initial roads, the Mertarvik Evacuation Center, two production water wells, establishment of a construction camp, the planning stages of the future airport, and development of a local gravel source."721 Although some funding has already been secured and several houses have already been built, the Army Corps of Engineers has estimated the cost of relocation at $80 million to $130 million to relocate and establish crucial infrastructure alone.722 Like Shishmaref, Newtok lacks sufficient funding for relocation.723 "In an unprecedented test case," Newtok has asked the president to declare the climate impacts on the village an official disaster in hopes of "unlocking the tens of millions of dollars needed to relocate the entire community."724 If funding is not secured, community members could be "forced to scatter, with some even moving 500 miles away to Anchorage," endangering the "community, culture, Yup'ik language and identity. ,725 Although there are many obstacles in the relocation process, Newtok residents prove that relocation can "strengthen a community's relationships and core values, enhance the skills and capacity of its people, and spark a return to the subsistence lifestyle that is so important to the past and the future of Newtok's people and culture. ,726 OR) Kivalina The village of Kivalina is "quickly losing the ice that governs life for its 400 residents ^1727 Kivalina is located on a barrier island in Northwestern Alaska along the Chukchi Sea, 83 miles above the Arctic circle.728 The Iiiupiat residents of Kivalina729 see the impacts of climate change on a daily basis "felt in drastic changes to weather, loss of traditional means of sustenance like whale hunting, and the literal vanishing of land.i730 Climate change impacts are so severe that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has predicted Kivalina will "be completel uninhabitable by 2025, a victim of melting ice, coastal erosion and rising sea levels. 0W na Alaska Department of Commerce and Community and Economic Development, supra note 691, at 10. Id. 722 Waldholz, supra note 693. 723 Id. 7247d. 725 Id. 72' Alaska Department of Commerce and Community and Economic Development, supra note 691, at 4. 727 UNrV. OREGON TRIBAL CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT, supra note 656, at 3. 73a Chris Mooney, The Remote Alaskan Village that Needs to be Relocated Due to Climate Change, WASH. POST (Feb. 24, 2015), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-envirownenttwp/2015/02/24/the'remote-alaskan- village-that-needs-to-be-relocated-due-to-climate-change; see also Carol Kuruvilla, Climate Change Will Cause Alaskan Villages to Vanish Water Within 10 Years, NY DAILY NEWS (June 30, 2013), http://www.nydailynews,com/news/`nationaUalaskan-village-vanish-water-decade-scientists-article-1.1412920. 7" Lawrence C. Hamilton et al., Chmigration? Population and Climate Change in Arctic Alaska, 38 POPULATION & ENVIRONMENT 115, 119 (June 23, 2016), htips://www.ncbi.nhn.nih-gov/pmc/articles/PMC508031 I /pdf/11111_2016_Article_259.pdf. 131 Mooney, supra note 728. 731 Kuruvilla; supra note 728; Hamilton, supra note 729, at 119; see also U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District, Kivalina, Alaska Relocation Planning Project Master Plan ES-2 (June 2006), 77 Anthropogenic climate chanfe has resulted in thinning Arctic sea ice, which has become a primary risk to Kivalina residents.7 2 The melting sea ice, which is visible from the sky, has replaced "multiyear" ice with "younger" ice, which is thinner and more fragile.733 The residents of Kiva 3ma have relied on a thick build-up of sea ice to protect the village from erosion and storms. As temperatures rise, the sea ice is "forming later and melting earlier," leaving the village unprotected from winter storms that are "devour[ing] the island at alarmingly fast rates — up to 70 feet of land at a time.s735 The United States Army Corps of Engineers has tried to mitigate the impacts of erosion in Kivalina; in 2008, a seawall was built to protect the village from the storms, but it is only a "temporary solution, ,736 and even with the sea wall, residents were forced to temporarily evacuate Kivalina after a 2011 storm?37 Like other Native villages threatened by climate change, "Kivalina's environmental problems aren't restricted to the coast "738 As permafrost thaws "the nearby Wulik River washes away large chunks of streambank, and increased river sediment has caused difficulty treating the community water supply. Climate change has had profound impacts on the availability of food and community's ability to hunt and harvest the meat, fruit, and vegetables on which they rely for subsistence as well as the ability to store food safety.740 Due to the severe climate change impacts experienced by the people of Kivalina, and their deep connection to the land, Kivalina residents remain "torn between tradition and a deeply uncertain future."74] The longer it takes the village of Kivalina to relocate, the more expensive it will be.742 The village of Kivalina voted to relocate in 1992743, however, state budget constraints have slowed the progress of preliminary studies.744 Relocation has become imminent and "the need for viable futures is urgent."745 (d) Food and Water Scarcity and Safety ("The `do nothing' option will result in the current village site being overtopped with water during a storm or eroded away over time, and ultimately having to be abandoned."), 732 Mooney, supra note 728. 73S Id. 730 Kuruvilla, supra note 728. _ 7357d. 73' Id.; Mooney, supra note 728. 737 Kuruvilla, supra note 728. 738 U.S. Climate Resilience Toolldt, Relocating Kivalina, NOAA, https://tooNdt.climate.gov/taking- action/relocating-kivalina (last updated January 17, 2017). 739 Id. 740Id. 7"i Mooney, supra note 728. 7"z U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, supra note 738; see also Kuruvilla, supra note 728; see also Mooney, supra note 728: 13 Kuruvilla, supra note 728. 7"4 U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, supra note 738. 745 Re -Locate Kivalina; Overview, TnREE DEGREES WARMER (July 15, 2015), hV://threedegreeswanner.org/wp- content/uploads/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-15-at-2.28.38-PM.png. 91 In 2001, on behalf of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), Dr. Margaret Leinen testified before the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, at a Special Hearing on climate change held in Fairbanks. Dr. Leinen's testimony outlined USGCRP expert findings regarding climate change impacts on Alaska, including: Increased Stress on Subsistence Livelihoods —Subsistence practices are probably more important in Alaska than any other state. The subsistence harvest by rural residents is about 43 million pounds of food annually, or about 375 pounds per person. The significance of such practices in Alaska goes beyond the provision of food. Subsistence activities are also associated with harvests making important contributions to health, culture, and identity. Climate changes in Alaska are already causing serious harm to subsistence livelihoods. Many local populations of marine mammals, fish, and seabirds have been reduced or displaced. Reduced snow cover, shorter river ice seasons, and permafrost thawing all obstruct travel and the harvest of wild food. Continued warming is likely to lead to further ecosystem changes.746 Alaska Native communities face increasingly diminishing hunting prospects for many of the marine mammals they rely upon for subsistence; "[als the ice melts or moves away early, walruses, seals, and polar bears move out of hunting range.047 Additionally, arctic species relied upon by subsistence hunters have begun to diminish — victims of climate change: "The impacts to this ecosystem have affected populations of marine polar bears, caribou, walrus, and killer whales, all of which have great significance to the Native peoples who depend on those species for their survival....Not only are the animals and lake fish disappearing, but hunters face hazardous conditions, such as the danger of falling through thin sea ice."74s Further, the "dietary and economic well-being" of these communities has been "directly affected" by the recent declines in salmon and other fish that travel up river to spawn — which account for 60 percent of Alaska Natives' subsistence resources.749 Alaska Native communities have observed changes in the health and behavior of caribou, another key subsistence species, as climate change has worsened. These changes which negatively affect subsistence hunting.750 For instance, global warming has resulted in decreases 746 Hearing before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, 107th Cong., 55 (May 29, 2001), h�s://www.gpo. gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-107shrg76969/pdE/CHRG-107shrg76969.pdf. GAO Report to Cong. Comm., GAO-09-551, Alaskan Native Villages: Limited Progress Has Been Made on Relocating Villages Threatened by Flooding and Erosion 74 (2009), http://www.gao.gov/assets/300/290468.pdf; see also Cochran, supra note 629, at 52-53. " See Rebecca Tsosie, Indigenous People and Environmental Justice: The Impact of climate Change, 78 U. COLo. L. REv. 1625, 1640 (2007); Gavin Stern, The Great Arctic Experiment: Climate Change is Affecting the Region's Estuaries, Politics, and What It Means To Go Home. 350 SCIENCE 520-21 (Oct. 30, 2015), http://science.sciencemag.org/content/350/6260/520 full. 749 Hassol, supra note 354, at 119. "U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, supra note 738; Larry D. Hinman et al., Evidence and Implications of Recent Climate Change in Northern Alaska and Other Arctic Regions, 72 CLIMATIC CHANGE 252, 286 (2005), https://www.fs.fed-us/pnw/pubs/joumais/pnw_2005_hinzman001.pdf, Gabriel Halas, Caribou Migration, Subsistence Hunting, and User Group Conflicts in Northwest Alaska: A traditional Knowledge Perspective, Masters Thesis (Aug. 2015), available for download at http8://scholarworks.alaska.edu/handle/l1122/6090. 79 in caribou populations751 as well as changes in the plant community and timing of vegetation on which caribou forage, leading to changing migration patterns.752 For instance, in the absence of the sea ice, which is melting earlier and earlier in the season as climate change progresses, communities residing on barrier islands (such as Shishmaref), can no longer travel to the mainland to hunt moose and caribou, as they normally would by early-November.753 Moreover, warming conditions are causing traditional underground ice cellars to melt.754 These traditional underground ice cellars, which are cut directly into the permafrost, have long been used to store food.755 "However, when the permafrost melts, the hard-won caribou, seal, and other meat stored in these cellars can rot and become unusable. ,756 This inability to store meat "compounds two other problems with these traditional food sources: the animals have grown more scarce, and collecting them has become more difficult and dangerous because of melting sea ice and flooded lands."757 The thawing of ice cellars cause food contamination and contributed to the loss of traditional foods in Native communities' diets, which are already being made scarce by climate change.758 A shift from traditional food to a western diet, "increases dependence on non- traditional, expensive, and often less -healthy store-bought foods."759 Concern about contaminants in traditional foods also lead a shift to a western diet, which is "associated with increases in `modern diseases' such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer and contributes to negative social, cultural, economic, and nutritional effects.s760 Alaskan Native communities are particularly at risk to the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on access to safe drinking water: Rural Alaska Native communities both in the Arctic and elsewhere in Alaska depend on groundwater (66%), lakes and reservoirs (2o%) and rivers and creeks (14%) for their water supply. Little information is available on changes to Alaska Native groundwater supplies, however, surface water sources and water supply infrastructure are being 051 See Sttvzik, supra note 568. 75t U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, supra note 738; Michael Brubaker, Rej Chavan, Climate Change in Mana, Alaska: Strategies for Community Health, ALASKA NATIVE TRIBAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM (Oct. 2011), at 4-5, 7-8, 11,23 26, http://anthe.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/0I/CCH_AR_102011_Climate-Change-in-Kiana.pdf; see also Global Warming Threatens Caribou, OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING, https://opb.pbsleamingmedia. org/resource/can08.sci.ess.watcyc.caribou/global-warming-threatens- caribou/#. WQOUSFKZPOQ. 7" Hassol, supra note 354, at 80. 759 U.S. Climate Resilience Toolldt, Inupiag Work to Preserve Food and Traditions on Alaska's North Slope, NOAA, https://toolldt.cl mate.gov/case-studies/iiiupiaq-work-preserve-food-and-traditions-alaskas-north-slope (last uTdated January 17, 2017); see also Cochran, supra note 629, at 52. 7 5 U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, supra note 754. 756Id. 7577d. 758 Cochran, supra note 629, at 52. 759Id 760Id. a dramatically affected by climate changes. Algal blooms are increasing in lakes and rivers due to warmer temperatures, and in villages, like Point Hope, they are causing significant increases in treatment time and costs. Beavers, which can carry giardia, .are occupying rivers in northern Alaska for the first time since the last ice age and are an example of shifting wildlife acting as vectors for waterborne diseases. As permafrost thaws in various areas of Alaska, the ground can absorb more water, and some lake levels are decreasing or lakes are draining entirely, causing water supply problems. Erosion driven by permafrost thawing can cause high river turbidity levels, resulting in boil water notices and increased risk of waterborne disease. Extreme precipitation events can lead to flood -related contamination and high turbidity levels that can overwhelm water treatment systems. Subsidence due to permafrost thawing and erosion are causing widespread physical damage to water infrastructure, sometimes interrupting services for months.761 (e) Cultural Practices and Heritage Loss In addition to sustaining the economic and nutritional viability of many Alaska Native communities, Alaska's Arctic and sub -Arctic living resources provide a basis for social identity, spiritual life, and cultural survival.762 Alaska Native communities possess a deep spiritual connection with land and the environment.763 Alaska Native's "strong sense of place and sense of connection to the organisms that inhabit [their land] makes climate change a much deeper and more personal impact" than to communities who do not have that special connection to their environment 764 - Due to high poverty rates in Alaska Native communities, high cost of fuel and commercial goods, and a lack of available jobs to provide a cash income, "iridigenous people in rural Alaska depend directly on the local environment for food, transportation, and survival and have a strong need to understand and manage the consequences of climate change ."765 Alaska Natives are connected to the land their communities have lived on for generations through "observations, 76' K. Cozzetto et al., Climate Change Impacts on the Water Resources ofAmerican Indians and Alaska Natives in the U.S., SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA DODRECHT 9-10 (Aug. 30, 2013), https://greatbasinlcc.blob.core.windows net/media/Default/Webinar_Series/2013%2OCozzetto%20CC%20i Oon%20Tribal%20Waters.pdf (citations omitted); Michael Brubaker et al, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Center for Climate and Health, Source Drinking Water Challenges Changes to an Arctic Tundra Lake, CCH BULLETIN No. 2 (Oct. 19, 2009), available at http://anthe.ore/wD-contenttuninads/)Ol6mi it(,u u,.ne.: XT- "' Hassol, supra note 354, at 94. 113 Cochran, supra note 629, at 50; see also NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS, Resolution #EWS-06- 2004 — Supporting a National Mandatory Program to Reduce Climate Change Pollution and Promote Renewable Energy (2006), EWS-06-004.pdf; Frank Pommersheim, The Reservation as Place: A South Dakota Essay, 34 S.D. L. REV, 246, 89 9Co.c 9 ). hran, supra note 629, at 50 763 Id. 81 infrastructure is built on ice. Permafrost (continuous and discontinuous) underlies much of the state, and the thawing of that permafrost is costly for infrastructure and communities.775 This occurs through frost heaving, melting, flooding, and temperature change. Indeed, thawing permafrost threatens many of Alaska's roadways, includin� the Alaska Highway, the "critical artery" between Alaska and the contiguous United States.7 6 Impacts of thawing permafrost on -the highway system represent "the biggest geotechnical problem" faced by Alaska's Department of Transportation.777 In addition to causing buildings to tilt and runways to crack, thawing permafrost can cause sudden drainage of lakes when the ice -sealing liner thaws.778 This can empty village -drinking water sources or cause sewage lagoons to leak.779 Even in the absence of thawing, warming of permafrost can impact infrastructure. For example, a piling sitting in permafrost that has warned from -4 to -1 °C will lose 70% of its load capacity. 80 According to 2008 estimates, by 2030, climate change is expected to add 10-20% to the cost of repairing and maintaining state infrastructure, including roads, airports, and harbors, for a total of $3-6 billion.781 Climate -change -induced erosion is a pressing problem along many of Alaska's rivers and coasts. This is due to the thawing of permafrost bluffs, declining sea ice (which previously armored the shore for a larger fraction of the year), increasing sea surface temperatures, and more powerful storms. Flooding and erosion affect 84% of Alaska's 200+ Native villages, and climate change is accelerating their impacts.782 A 2004 report from the Government Accountability Office identified 31 villages in "imminent danger."783 Estimated costs for the three villages most in need of immediate relocation are $95-125 million for Kivalina, $100-200 million for Shishmaref, and $80-130 million for Newtok.784 If similar costs hold for all those 31 villages, the total would be around $3 billion. Climate change is also likely to have increasingly severe and dangerous effects on public health (See Secion VI.A.8, VI.13.5), impacting both the healthcare industry as well as the productivity of Alaskan workers. Moreover, repairs to basic sanitation infrastructure impacted by climate change will incur further economic costs. Advisory Group to the Alaska Climate Change Sub -Cabinet: Chapter 4: Public Infrastructure (27 Jan. 2010), http://www.climatechange.alaska.gov/aag/docs/aagLCh4_27Janl0.pdf. 775 Id. 77' Greg Quinn, Climate Change is Hell on Alaska's Formerly Frozen Highways, BLOOMBERG (Aug. 2, 2016), Id. -- --_ - __- ..,-.,.,.., & 778 Henry Cole, Vayla Colonell, & David Esch, The Economic Impact and Consequences of Global Climate Change on Alaska's Infrastructure, University of Alaska, Fairbanks (October 1998), http://www.besis.uafedu/besis-oct98- report/Infiastructure-1 .pdf. 77. Id. 780 Id. Tat Peter H. Larsen et al., Estimating Future Costs for Alaska Public Infrastructure at Risk From Climate Change, 18 GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE 442 (2008), http://www.scienced rect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378008000216. 782 GAO 2003, supra note 639. `3 GAO 2009, supra note 639. 7$4 Kathy Lynn and Ellen Donoghue, Climate Change: Realities of Relocation for Alaska Native Villages, TRIBAL CLIMATE CHANGE PROFILE PROJECT (April 13, 2011), http:/%tribalclimate.uoregon.edu/fdes/2010/11/AlaskaRelocation 04-13-11.pdf. Climate change is projected to hamper even the operations of the oil and gas industry in Alaska. Although a longer open -water season in the ocean could facilitate oil exploration, thawing permafrost, increased difficulty of disposing of drilling muds in sumps, and shorter ice road seasons will make work on land more costly.$ By contrast, a plan to transition Alaska to 100% renewable energy by 2050 would save Alaskans money, create jobs, and reduce mortalities. Specifically, by 2050, the projected cost savings would be $27,060786 per person, per year; nearly 30,000 long -teen jobs would be created; .9 billion dollars in health care costs, and 84 deaths would be avoided every year. 787 While some of the costs outlined above may be quantifiable in terms of their monetary value and impact to Alaska's economy, the true costs of climate change are utterly incalculable. No monetary sum can adequately reflect the value of the health of Alaskan communities, the species and rich biodiversity that form Alaska's legacy, or the traditions, stories,'and sacred places of Alaska Natives communities, all of which are imperiled by anthropogenic climate change. Nor can any financial sum compensate for the emotional loss associated with the relocation of entire Native villages and divorce from traditional culture. No expression of financial significance can accurately encapsulate the value of Alaska's ecosystems and the rich sustenance they endow upon all Alaskans, present and future. C. The Best Climate Science Provides a Prescription for Restoring the Atmosphere, Stabilizing the Climate System, and Protecting the Oceans from Acidification and Warming To protect Earth's climate for present and future generations, we must restore Earth's energy balance. "The increased concentration Of CO2 and other GHGs in the atmosphere operates to reduce Earth's heat radiation to space, thus causing an energy imbalance - less energy going out than coming in. This imbalance causes Earth to heat -up until it again radiates as much energy to space as it absorbs from the sun."788 The best climate science789 shows that if the 78. Steven V. Kokelj et al., Permafrost and Terrain Conditions at Northern Drilling -Mud Sumps: Impacts of Vegetation and Climate Change and the Management Implications, 64 COLD REGIONS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 46-56; Oistein Harsem, Ame Eide, & Knot Heen, Factors Influencing Future Oil and Gas Prospects in the Arctic 39 ENERGY POLICY 8037 (Dec. 2011). 7"Tbe cost savings include electricity cost savings, air quality damage savings, and climate costs savings to the world. 787 Mark Z. Jacobsen, et al., 100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water, and Sunlight (WWS) All -Sector Energy Roadmaps for the 50 United States, 8 ENERGY & ENv'rL. SCL. 2093, 2106, 2108, 2111 (2015), https://web.stanford.edu/group/ofmWjacobson/ArticlesNUSStateswwS.pdf. ADBC has also acknowledged the economic feasibility and benefits of regulating climate change. See Section VH.C.3. 788 Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at 122. 78' See generally Hansen, Where Should Humanity Aim?, supra note 133; James Hansen, et al., (2013) Assessing "Dangerous Climate Change ": Required Reduction of Carbon Emissions to Protect Young People, Future Generations and Nature, 8 PLOS ONE 8 (Dec. 3, 2013), http://joumals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/joumal.pone.0081648; James Hansen, et al., Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms: Evidence From Paleoclimate Data, Climate Modeling, and Modern Observations That 2 °C M planet once again sends as much energy into space as it absorbs from the sun, this will restore the planet's climate equilibrium.790 Scientists have accurately calculated how Earth's energy balance will change if we reduce long-lived greenhouse gases such as CO279t Humans have altered Earth's energy balance and and are currently causing a planetary energy imbalance of approximately 0.6 Watts per square meter.793 We would need to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations to at least 350 ppm, in order to increase Earth's heat radiation into space by 0.6 Watts, if other long-lived gases stay the same as today.794 All of the states and countries of the world, including Alaska, must do their parts to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentration to a maximum of 350 ppm to avoid the threats detailed herein, to avoid significant disturbance of physical and biological systems as a result of global climate change, and to achieve stabilization of the GHG concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.795 The current science also shows that to protect Earth's natural systems, long-term average global surface heating should not exceed 1 °C this century.796 According to the current climate science, to prevent global heating greater than PC, concentrations of atmospheric CO2 must decline to 350 ppm or less by the end of this century.797 However, today's atmospheric CO2 levels exceed 400 ppm and are rlsing.798 A target of keeping global surface heating to 2°C above pre -industrial temperatures, which approximately equates to an atmospheric COZ concentration of 450 ppm, cannot be Global Warming Could Be Dangerous, 16 ATMos. CHEM. PHYS. 3761 (Mar. 22, 2016), https://www.atmos-chem- phys net/16/3761/2016/acp-16-3761-2016.pdf, Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at 122. 90 Abatzoglou, supra note 125, at 11, 15-22. 791 Hansen, supra note 126, at 166 ("Also our best current estimate for the planet's mean energy imbalance over the past decade, thus averaged over the solar cycle, is about +0.5 watt per square meter. Reducing carbon dioxide to 350 ppm would increase emission to space 0.5 watt per square meter, restoring the planet's energy balance, to first approximation."). Since 2009, the energy imbalance has increased. See Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at ¶¶ 31, 64 ("Earth's energy imbalance now averages about 0.6 Watts/m' ... averaged over the entire planet.... The measured energy imbalance indicates that atmospheric CO2 must be reduced to a level below 350 ppm and the long- term average global temperature increase above pre -industrial levels must be limited to below 1 degree Celsius."). ' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ("IPCC"), Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis: Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 37 (2013), http://www.ipee.ch/pdf/assessment- report/ar5/wgl/WGIARS SPM brochure_en.pdf ('[Tlhe global average net effect of human activities since 1750 has been one of warming, with a radiative forcing of+1.6 [+0.6 to +2.4] W/m? "). 793 Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at ¶ 31 794Id at ¶¶ 64, 68; Hansen, supra note 126, at 166; see Hansen,.supra note 133, at 217-31 (detailing levels necessary to correct energy imbalance in 2009, which levels have since increased with continued GHG emissions and worsening climate changes). 79' Hansen, supra note 126, at 217 ("If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, Paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm."); see generally, Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15; Hansen, Young People's Burden, supra note 109. 796 Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at 1112, 64, 68, 86, passim. 797Id.; Hansen, supra note 126. 798 Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at IN 20, 35; NASA, Facts, Carbon Dioxide, http://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide. m considered a safe target for present or future generations, and is not supported by current science of climate a tabilization'799 Earth's paleoclimate history demonstrates that climate impacts accompanpg global warming of 20C or more would be irreversible and catastrophic for humanity. 00 For example, the paleoclimate record shows that warming consistent with CO2 concentrations as low as 450 ppm may have been enough to melt almost all of Antarctica.801 The warming of the past few decades has brought global temperature close to if not slightly above the prior maximum of the Holocene epoch — "the period of relatively stable climate over the last 10,000 years that has enabled human civilization to develop.s802 Human society must keep global temperature at a level within or close to the Holocene range to prevent dangerous climate change. Global warming of 2°C would be well above Holocene levels and far into the dangerous range and has been described as "an unacceptably high risk of global catastrophe.s803 The widely -used models that allow for 2°C temperature increase, and therefore advocate for a global CO2 emission reduction target aimed at a 450 ppm CO2 standard, do not take into account significant factors that will compound climate impacts. Most importantly, they do not include the slow feedbacks that will be triggered by a temperature increase of 2°C.804 Slow feedbacks include the melting of ice sheets and the release of potent greenhouse gases, particularly methane, from the thawing of the tundra.805 These feedbacks might show little change in the short-term, but can hit a point of no return, even at a 2°C temperature increase, that will trigger further warming and sudden catastrophic impacts. For example, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets "required millennia to grow to their present sizes. If ice sheet disintegration reaches a point such that the dynamics and momentum of the process take over, reducing greenhouse gases may be finile to prevent major ice sheet mass loss, sea level rise of many meters, and worldwide loss of coastal cities —a consequence that is irreversible for practical purposes.s806 These slow feedbacks are a part of the inertia of the climate system, where ' t]he inertia causes climate to appear to respond slowly to this human I'm forcing, but further long-lasting responses can be locked in.s807 Thermal inertia is primarily a result of the global ocean, which stores 90% of the energy surplus, and therefore perpetuates increased global temperature even after climate forcings, or emissions, have declined. 08 Thus, the longer we wait to reduce global CO2 concentrations, the more thermal inertia will already be in play and the more climate impacts will continue to escalate. Alaska will play an important role in these climate forcings. Thawing permafrost throughout Alaska may be changing the state from shifting from a net sink, or storehouse, of carbon to a net source.809 799 Hansen, Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms supra note 14. 800Id. 801 Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at 135. s0z Id. at ¶¶ 16, 29. ao3Id. at 144. 8°4 Hansen, Assessing "Dangerous Climate Change ", supra note 6, at 15. s0s Id. "'Id. at 13. 8077d. at 1. "'Id. at 4-5, 13, s09 R6isin Commane et. al. Carbon Dioxide Sources from Alaska Driven by Increasing Early Winter Respiration from Arctic Tundra, 114 PROCEEDINGS NAT'L ACAD. Sci. 5361(MAY 23, 2017), m Furthermore, 2°C targets would lead to an increase in the use of fossil fuels that are more difficult to extract, and thus are compounded with the expenditure of greenhouse gases due to the transport and intensive mining process resulting in "more CO2 [emissions] per unit useable energy."810 The 2°C target also reduces the likelihood that the biosphere will be able to sequester CO2 due to carbon cycle feedbacks and shifting climate zones.811 Under the allowable emissions with the 2°C target, other greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide would continue to increase, further exacerbating climate change impacts.812 These factors are missing from the 2°C scenarios, which have (unfortunately) been widely accepted and used in the creation of climate policies and plans. A temperature rise of 2°C will not only lock in a further temperature increase due to thermal inertia, but it will also trigger irreversible impacts, including rapid, nonlinear sea level rise and species loss described above.813 Most models look at sea level rise as a gradual linear response to melting ice sheets. However, "it has been argued that continued business -as -usual CO2 emissions are likely to spur a nonlinear response with multi -meter sea level rise this century.s814 This sea level rise would occur at a pace that would not allow human communities or ecosystems to respond. An emission reduction target aimed at 2°C would "yield a larger eventual warming because of slow feedbacks, probably at least 30C.s815 Once a temperature increase of 20C is reached, there will already be "additional climate change "in the pipeline" even without further change of atmospheric composition."816 Dr. James Hansen warns that "distinctions between pathways aimed at PC and 2°C warming are much greater and more fundamental than the numbers VC and 2°C themselves might suggest. These fundamental distinctions make scenarios with 2°C or more global warming far more dangerous; so dangerous, we [James Hansen et al.] suggest, that aiming for the 2°C pathway would be. foolhardy."S1' The 2°C target is at best the equivalent of "flip[ping] a coin in the hopes that future generations are not left with few choices beyond mere survival. This is not risk management, it is recklessness and we must do better."818 Thus, a global average atmospheric concentration of CO2 of 450 ppm, or a concentration of CO2e between 450 and 550 ppm, would result in dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system and would threaten all public natural resources in Alaska and the health and well- being of Alaskans. http://www.people fas harvard.edu/—rcommane/publicaridns-/29-pnas-2017-adv_onlinesi.pdf; HenryFountain, Tundra May Be Shifting Alaska to Put Out More Carbon Than It Stores, Study Says,New York Times (May 8, 2017), https://www nytimes.com/2017/05/08/climattValaska-carbon-dioxide-co2-tundra hunt. s.. Hansen, Assessing "Dangerous Climate Change ", supra note 6, at 15. s11 Id. at 15, 20. 112Id. at 20. 813 Id. at 6. 814Id. 815Id. at 15. e1e Id. at.19. s1r Id. at 15. 818 Matt Vespa, Why 350? Climate Policy Must Aim to Stabilize Greenhouse Gases at the Level Necessary to Minimize the Risk of Catastrophic Outcomes, 36 ECOLOGY L. CURRENTS 185, 186 (2009), http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/publications/papers/Why_350.pdf. 119 Importantly, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ("IPCC") has not established nor endorsed a target of 2°C warming above the preindustrial period as a limit below which the climate system will be stable.819 The 2°C figure was reached as a compromise between the emission reduction scenarios and associated risks summarized by Working Group I of the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report,820 and because policy makers felt that it was politically achievable.821 As the IPCC makes clear, "each major IPCC assessment has examined the impacts of [a] multiplicity of temperature changes but has left [it to the] political processes to make decisions on which thresholds may be appropriate."822 Two degrees Celsius warming above pre- industrial levels has never been universally considered "safe" from either a political or scientific point of view. As the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ("UNFCCC") stated: "The `guardrail' concept, in which up to 20C of warming is considered safe, is inadequate and would therefore be better seen as an upper limit, a defense line that needs to be stringently 2 defended, while less warming would be preferable. "823 And according to a Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC's 5th Assessment Report, the °C "danger level" seemed: [U]tterly inadequate given the already observed impacts on ecosystems, food, livelihoods, and sustainable development, and the progressively higher risks and lower adaptation potential with rising temperatures, combined with disproportionate vulnerability." The most recent IPCC synthesis of climate science confirms that additional warning of 1 °C (we have already have L I °C warming above the preindustrial average)825 jeopardizes unique and threatened systems, including ecosystems and cultureS.826 The IPCC also warns of risks of extreme events, such as heat waves, extreme precipitation, and coastal flooding, and "irreversible regime shifts" with additional warning.27 See Figure 5 below. '19 See Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at 173. "0 See IPCC, supra note 792, at Table SPM.3. 821 See Declaration of Dr. Richard H. Gammon In Support of Foster v. Wash. Dept. of Ecology, No. 14-2-25295-1, at 2 (Wash. King Cry. Super. Ct. Aug. 24, 2105), 10a2/1503715984440/1 IPCC, Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change, Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report, 125 (2014), http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg3/ipcc_wg3_ar5_chapterl.pdf. 82'' UNFCCC, 2015: Report on the Structured Expert Dialogue on the 2013-2015 Review, 18, htq)s://tinfecc.int/resourceldocs/2015/sb/eng/infOl.pdf. 82APetra Tschakert, 1.5 °C or 2 'C.- A Conduit's View from the Science -Policy Interface at COP20 in Lima, Peru, eC�LIMATE CHANGE RESPONSES 8 (Mar. 27, 2015), http://www.climatechangeresporises.com/ content/2/1/3. NASA, Facts: Evidence: Climate Change: How Do We Know?: Global Temperature Rise, https://Clu ate.nasa.gov/evidence. 826;CC, supra note 792, at 12-14. 827a EM 0, �; Q5 0 c o -N �- a. Cn aig Ss o s a 00 4 0 m w lilt Unique & Extreme Distribution Global Lange -scale threatened weather of impacts aggregate singular .0 systems events impam events k Level of additional risk due to climate change Undetectable ModVate Figure 5: Burning Embers. Illustration of climate risks associated with the IPCC's principally identified reasons for concem,828 Oceans have the same scientific standard of protection. Alaska organisms and ecosystems are already harmed and will increasingly continue to be harmed by the effects of ocean acidification. Critically important ocean ecosystems, including fisheries, are severely threatened by present day CO2 concentrations of approximately 400 ppm and it is vitally important that atmospheric CO2 levels are reduced to below 350 ppm in order to protect ocean ecosystems.929 The IPCC never concluded that 2°C warming would be safe for ocean life.830 According to Dr. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, one of the world's leading experts on ocean acidification and the Coordinating Lead Author of the oceans chapter of the 5th Assessment Report of the IPCC: sza Id. at 13, 829See Declaration of 0ve Hoegh-Guldberg In Support of Foster v Wash. Dept ofEcology, No.14-2-25295-1 SEA, (Wash. King Cty. Super. Ct. Aug. 24, 2015), https://staticl.squarespace.com/static/571 dl09bO4426270152febe0/t/59aOe23dd482e9c868986767/1503715905156/ 15.08.25+Hoegh-GuldbergDecl.pdf. s..IPCC, supra note 792, at 2. Allowing a temperature rise of up to 20C would seriously jeopardize ocean life, and the income and livelihoods of those who depend on healthy marine ecosystems. Indeed, the best science available suggests that coral dominated reefs will completely disappear if carbon dioxide concentrations exceed much more than today's concentrations. Failing to restrict further increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide will eliminate coral reefs as we know them and will deny future generations of children from enjoying these wonderful ecosystems.831 Even the 2015 Paris Agreement backed off 20C as a safe level of warming (though it did not go far enough to note that 1 °C was the maximum safe level of long-term warming). 32 To prevent further degradation or the eventual depletion of the oceanic resources, it is imperative that atmospheric CO2 concentrations be returned to below 350 ppm by the end of this century. It is imperative that Alaska set GHG emission limits targeted at 10C temperature change, or a maximum of 350 ppm in global CO2 levels, in order for Alaska to do its part to avoid the cascading impacts that will occur with a 2°C or 450 ppm target. To reduce global atmospheric CO2 to 350 ppm by the end of this century, this target would require that if global CO2 emissions had peaked in 2012, they be reduced by 6% er year beginning in 2013, alongside 100 GtC of global reforestation throughout the century. 8 3 If emissions peaked and reductions began in 2005, only a 3.5 /o per year reduction would have been necessary to reach 350 ppm by 2100. If adequate emissions reduction implementation begins this year, emissions this year need to be reduced by 8.5% per year.834 However, if emission reductions do not begin until 2020, a 15% per year reduction rate will be required to reach 350 ppm by 2100.835 If reductions are delayed beyond 2020, it might not be possible to return to 350 ppm until well after 2500.836 Continued delay makes it harder and harder for Petitioners and future generations to protect a livable world. It is imperative that the Department calibrates State emission limits to put Alaska on a trajectory aimed for 350 ppm and then establish a plan that will put Alaska on a track towards ensuring that Alaska does its part to meet these limits. Previous projections based on maintaining atmospheric carbon concentrations at or below 450 ppm are not sufficient to avoid severe, irreversible damage as a result of ocean acidification and ocean warming. According to current science, 450 ppm represents a tipping point for coral reefs worldwide. If atmospheric CO2 levels reach this tipping point, coral reefs as we know them will be extremely rare, if not extinct, and at least half of coral -associated wildlife will become 831 Id. 83z Paris Agreement, Article 2, Section "" Hansen, Assessing "Dangerous Climate Change,% supra note 6, at 10. 834 Hansen 2016 Declaration, supra note 15, at 168. 8" Hansen, Assessing "Dangerous Climate Change ,%supra note 6, at 10. 636Id.; While alternative combinations of emissions reductions and sequestration rates may be utilized to achieve a reduction of atmospheric CO2 to 350 ppm by 2100, the rates proposed by Petitioner; represent the most feasible and cost-effective combination, see Hansen, Young People's Burden, supra note 109. .E raze or extinct. As a result, coral reef ecosystems will likely be reduced to crumbling frameworks with few calcareous corals remaining.837 Atmospheric CO2 levels are currently on a path to reach a climatic tipping point.83' Absent immediate action to reduce CO2 emissions, atmospheric CO2 may reach levels so high that life on Earth as we know it is unsustainable at these levels. Fossil fuel emissions must decrease rapidly if atmospheric CO2 is to be returned to a safe level in this century."" Improved forestry and agricultural practices can provide a net drawdown of atmospheric CO2, primarily via reforestation of degraded lands, returning us to 350 ppm somewhat sooner. 840However, the potential of these measures is limited. Immediate and substantial reductions in CO2 emissions are required in order to ensure that the Petitioners and future generations are to inherit a planet that is habitable. A zero-CO2 U.S. energy system can be achieved within the next thirty to fifty years without acquiring carbon credits from other countries. In other words, actual physical emissions Of CO2 from fossil fuels can be eliminated with technologies that are now available or reasonably foreseeable. This can be done at reasonable cost by eliminating fossil fuel subsidies and creating annual and long-term CO2 reduction targets. Net U.S. oil imports can be eliminated in about 25 years, possibly less. The result will also include large ancillary health benefits from the significant reduction of most regional and local air pollution, such as high ozone and particulate levels in cities, which is mainly due to fossil fuel combustion.841 Experts state that approaches to transition to a renewable energy system and to phase out fossil fuels by about 2050 include: A cap on fossil fuel use that declines to zero by 2050 or a gradually rising carbon tax with revenues used to promote a zero-0O2 emissions energy system and to mitigate adverse income -distribution effects; increasingly stringent efficiency standards; elimination of direct and indirect subsidies and other incentives for fossil fuel .extraction, transportation, and combustion; investment in a vigorous and diverse research, development and demonstration program; banning new coal-fired power plants and phasing out existing coal-fired power plants; adoption of a policy that would aim to have essentially carbon -free state and local governments, including almost all of their buildings and vehicles by 2030; and adoption of a gradually increasing renewable portfolio standard for electricity until it reaches 100% by about 2050. Products and services already exist for building or remodeling buildings to have zero GHG emissions; for generating sufficient electricity with zero carbon dioxide emissions; for se. See generally J.E.N. Veron et al., The Coral Reef Crisis: The Critical Importance of <350 ppm CO2, 58 MARiNE POINT BULLETIN 1428 (Oct. 2009), http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X09003816.. s.s Hansen, supra note 126, at 224-30, 260. "9 Hansen, Where Should Humanity Aim?, supra note 133, at 217 (discussing the need to reduce the atmospheric CO2 concentration to 350 ppm). 890 Id. at 227. 841 ARJUN MAMJANI, CARBON -FREE, NUCLEAR -FREE: A ROADMAP FOR U.S. ENERGY POLICY (2007); Declaration of Mon Makhijani in Support of Alec L. v. Jackson, https://staticl.squarespace.com/static/57 1 d 109b04426270152febe0/t/59a0e358cf81 e0853497b 1 a4/1503716186276/ Makhijani+Declaration.11.09.26.pdf. B42 ARJUN MAKimANI, CARBON -FREE, NUCLEAR -FREE: A ROADMAP FOR U.S. ENERGY POLICY, 15 SCIENCE FOR DEMOCRATIC ACTION 1 (AUGUST 2007), http://www helencaldicott.com/roadmap_summary.pdf. 91 zero -emission transportation and industrial processes; and agricultural and forest processes that can also decrease GHG emissions and increase CO2 sequestration. The Department should fully consider these measures in achieving its own annual emissions reduction measures to transition off of fossil fuels. Furthermore, experts have already prepared plans for Alaska (as well as every other state and over 100 countries) that would allow Alaska to transition off fossil fuels. This plan outlines how Alaska can produce 100% of its energy, for all energy sectors, from clean and renewable energy sources: wind, water, and sunlight by 2050.843 Alaska's plan would have the state getting about 70% of its energy from onshore and offshore wind, 15% hydroelectric, 7% geothermal, about 6% from photovoltaic cells (solar), 1 % tidal, and I % wave,844 If implemented, the plan would save Alaskans mong, create jobs, and reduce mortalities. Specifically, by 2050, the cost savings would be $27,0608 5 per person, per year; nearly 30,000 long-term jobs would be created; .9 billion dollars in health care costs, and 84 deaths, would be avoided every year. 846 This plan is economically and technologically feasibly, and provides a readily available plan that Alaska could implement, or use as a model. VH. DESPITE HAVING THE RESOURCES AND STRUCTURE IN PLACE, ALASKA HAS FAILED TO ADDRESS ITS EQUITABLE SHARE OF THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND HAS INSTEAD EXECERBATED THE CRISIS The Department has the present ability, and the clear legal duty, to curtail the environmental harms detailed above. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations will decrease if states stop (or greatly reduce) their burning of fossil fuels.847 The environmental harms and threats to human health and safety as described above can only be avoided if atmospheric CO2 concentrations are immediately reduced. Any more delay risks irreversible and catastrophic consequences for youth and future generations. Petitioners, other Alaska youth, and future generations have a right to be free from government action which infringes their constitutional and Public Trust rights. Alaska, including the ADEC, infringes these rights so long as it persists in actions which cause and exacerbate the current climate crisis through the permitting, authorization, and incentivizing of the development, extraction, combustion, and transportation of fossil fuels and other emissions generating activities, and so long as the state and ADEC fail to take action to do their share to address the climate crisis. These infringements can only be rectified by the adoption of a state - mandated, science, -based, emissions reduction strategy. ADEC's continuing actions and 8d3 Jacobson, supra note 787; see also Travis Madsen & Rob Sargent, We Have the Power: 100% Renewable Energy for a Clean Thriving America, Environment America Research & Poticy Center (2016), available at http://www.environmentamerica.orgtsites/environment/files/reports/ W e%20Have%20the%20Power- %20 ] 00%20Percent%20Renewable%20Energy%2Ofor%u20a%20C1e an%20Thriving%20America%20- Environment`/o20America.pdf. 894 Jacobson, supra note 787, at 2099; The Solutions Project, I00%Alaska, http://thesolutionsproject.ore,/infographic/img/infographics/100_Alaska.pdf 945 The cost savings include electricity cost savings, air quality damage savings, and climate costs savings to the world. s46 Jacobson, supra note 787, at 2106, 2108, 2111. 847 HARVEY BLATT, AMERICA's ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT CARD, xiii (2005) ("How can we stop this change in our climate? The answer is clear. Stop burning coal and oil, the sources of nearly all the carbon dioxide increase"), http J/scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.egi?article=3129&contexts ssw. 92 omissions in this respect contradict the Department's own position on its duty to address the climate crisis. ADEC has publicly affirmed its authority and obligation to meaningfully address climate change. In a presentation before the legislatively -appointed Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission (ACIAC), the Department concluded that "[i]t's a DEC duty not only to react / mitigate, but to act to prevent and to control damage to the environment caused by greenhouse gases.,,M8 ADEC cited its statutory mandate and codified state policy as the basis for its stated duty.849 ADEC's recognition of its authority and obligation in this regard finds clear support in numerous sources of Alaskan law; the Department's power and duty to promulgate a rule limiting Alaska's GHG emissions is rooted in the Alaska Constitution, the Public Trust Doctrine and multiple Alaska Statutes During a 2007 public presentation before the legislatively -established Alaska Climate Impacts and Assessment Committee, ADEC unequivocally declared not only its authority to create a rule mitigating against climate change, but also its duty to so do: "It's a DEC duty not only to react / mitigate, but to act to prevent and to control damage to the environment caused by greenhouse gases."B50 In 2008, the legislatively created Alaska Climate Impact Assessment concluded in its report to the legislature that Alaska needs "adaptable legal and policy frameworks" to help account for the inevitable "new responsibilities for the State of Alaska and public entities" with respect.to climate change.851 New state -level rules and responsibilities are needed, and ADEC is the department that can and, by its own admission, must adopt new rules and outline new responsibilities. Government -requested, Alaska -specific, climate change assessments have been conducted for over 15 years — all of which indicate that State GHG emissions must be reduced to mitigate against climate change — and ADEC, the state administrative agency tasked with promulgation of regulations for the protection and conservation of the environment and human health and welfare, long -ago went on record as having the authority and owing the duty to regulate Alaska's GHG emissions. Still, Alaska does not have so much as a climate action plan. No more assessment is needed before action can begin. ADEC has the authority, wherewithal, support, and —most importantly --duty to protect Alaskans from further suffering and devastation caused by climate change. ADEC can and should adopt the proposed emissions reduction rule. A. U.S. Senate Special Hearing on Climate Change, Fairbanks, 2001 Assessing local climate change impacts is nothing new to Alaskans. Over fifteen years ago, in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, Republican U.S. Senator for Alaska Ted Stevens chaired a Special Hearing before the Committee. The hearing, held in 848 See ADEC Presentation, supra note 5, at 66 (emphasis in original). 849Id. 8S0 See ADEC Presentation, supra note 5, at 66. 8" Final Commission Report to the Alaska State Legislature, ALASKA CLIMATE IMPACT ASSESSMENT COMMISSION ["ACIAC'l 3 (Mar. 17, 2008), http://climatechange.alaska.gov/aag/docs/097Fl7502.pdf [hereinafter ACIAC Final Report]. N Fairbanks, "assembled a very distinguished group of scientists and government officials to present [the Committee] facts and 5 edictions on the Arctic climate change issue and the impact it is having on the Arctic Region. Senator Stevens, once a climate change skeptic, opened the hearing by noting.that "what is happeninf [in Alaska] will have a significant impact on the Nation well as the world, perhaps."85 Stevens went on to state his belief that "practical responses to address the impact of climate change" were needed —and needed soon. Citing the fact that Alaska Native villages were "losing land because of the increased inundation of the sea," Stevens called "the encroachment of the ocean on the small villages" a "slow -moving disaster that may require more than a slow - moving response as far as the Federal and State governments are concerned.',854 . Many local experts took part in the Hearing, including: Dr. Akasofu and Orson Smith of the University of Alaska; Caleb Pungowiyi, "an Alaskan Native who has observed the impact of climate change along the coastline of Alaska;" and George Newton of the Arctic Research Commission. 55 The experts who presented at the Special Hearing did their part to outline the impending climate crisis. For example, Dr. Margaret Leinen, on behalf of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (which is "the U.S. interagency program charged by Congress to coordinate the national research effort on global change" ("USGCRP')), convincingly presented on the science and effects of climate change impacts already being felt in Alas ka.85 Dr. Leinen's presentation drew heavily from a 1999 regional report on Alaska. The report, titled "Preparing for a Changing Climate" and sponsored by DOl/USGS, NSF, NOAA and the lnted "Pre al Arctic Science Committee, detailed Alaska impacts such as: "permafrost thawing and sea -ice melting, increased risk of fire and insect damage to forests, sensitivity of fisheries and marine ecosystems, and increased stresses on subsistence livelihoods.i857 Senator Stevens held the Special Hearing because he was "especially interested in establishing a record of what is happening in the arctic region of [Alaskal."sss He wanted these impacts known; known to his fellow Appropriations Committee members and his fellow Alaskans alike. Moreover, by calling the Special Hearing, and then choosing to hold it not in Washington D.C. but in Fairbanks, Senator Stevens hoped to not just introduce the world to this "slow -moving disaster,"s59 but also to spur swift governmental action in Alaska to stop it." Unfortunately, bringing a prominent Senate Committee and a slew of scientific experts to 852 See Hearing before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, supra note 746, at 2. Id. s54Id (emphasis added). 855 Id. at 2. 156 Id. at 51_55. sn Id. at 53; see also Alaska Regional Assessment Group, Preparing for a Changing Climate: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, Alaska, CENTER FOR GLOBAL CHANGE AND ARCTIC SYSTEM rr RESEARCH, UNIVERSY OF FAIRBANM, ALAASKA (Dec. 1999), http://www.besis.uaf edu/regional-report/regional- rw sort html.. sHearing before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, supra note 746, at 2. 859Id. 960 Id. M Fairbanks to publicly discuss climate change and its impacts on Alaska did not spur state -level GHG reduction action. While Alaskans have seen climate change impacts worsen in the subsequent sixteen years, no effort has been made to regulate GHG emissions in the wake of the 2001 Special Hearing. Efforts have instead gone into "further assessment." B. State Legislature Creates ACIAC, State Assessment Begins, 2006 The Alaska State Legislature created the Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission (ACIAC) on June 7, 2006, with the passage of HRC 30.861 ACIAC's purpose was "to develop a comprehensive, preventative assessment and adaptation plan to address the issues that will help save lives, protect public health, preserve economic and resource development, and protect valuable infrastmcture."2 ACIAC was to, among other things, "recommend policies to decrease the negative effects of climate change," and asked to "identify and coordinate efforts of mutual concern with federal, state, and local agencies. ,863 As a part of its policy assessment, ACIAC held six public hearings across Alaska.114 These hearing provided local residents the opportunity to educate the Commission on how climate change impacts were already affecting Alaskan lives. The hearings also allowed public and private climate professionals and experts a chance to inform ACIAC of future impacts and ways to maximize the state's resources to mitigate against climate change. State residents and agencies were given a voice, an opportunity to step up and ask for —or offer —help."" In 2007, ADEC did just that: ADEC presented on the need for help while also articulating the duty it owes to Alaskans and preparations it had already made for promulgating an emissions reduction rule,866 C. ADEC's Presentation: A Warning, the Department's Duty and Authority to Act, and an Economically Viable Transition Plan Mitigating climate change requires leadership — leadership that ADEC has publicly affirmed that it is authorized, obligated, and able to provide. As ADEC has recognized for over ten years, the Department is duty-bound to protect Alaskans from a changed, unbalanced atmosphere. Not only is a state-wide transition to renewable energy possible, as the Department has acknowledged, it is economically viable. Over ten years ago, the Department recognized each of these points, highlighting its appropriate role as the leader in climate change regulation in the State of Alaska. ... State of Alaska Legislature HRC 30, Legislative Resolve 49, http:/Iwww.legis.state.ak.us/PDF/24/Bills/HCR030Z.PDF [hereinafter HRC 30]. s6z HRC 30 Fact Sheet 2, https://www.c2es.org/docUploads/AK-FactSheetonC°/`20C`/`20%20(2)%20(2).doe. s6s ADEC Presentation, supra note 5, at 6, (emphasis in original); HRC 30, supra note 861, at 4. 864 ACIAC Final Report, supra note 851, at 1. 965 Id. at 2. 866 See ADEC Presentation, supra note 5. Zm 1. ADEC Warned Alaska Politicians of Climate Change Impacts Over Ten Years Ago On January 24, 2007 ADEC presented before ACIAC.867 Beginning with a slide staring that "[a]rctic climate is now warming rapidly and much larger changes are projected," ADEC publicly outlined for ACIAC some of the many expected climate change impacts on Alaska 868 — impacts we now know would indeed come to bear (see, Section VI). ADEC's summarized discussion of climate change impacts in Alaska included: • Widespread melting of glaciers and sea ice, and a shortening of the snow season; • Increasing precipitation, shorter and warmer winters, and substantial decreases in snow cover and ice cover; • Increasing exposure of coastal communities to storms; • Thawing permafrost and associated weakening of coastal lands; • Increased risk of flooding; • Increased risks and costs and forced relocation of communities in coastal zones; • Thawing ground will disrupt transportation, buildings, and other infrastructure; • Threats and increased costs to sanitation infrastructure; • Reduction in supply and contamination of water sources; • Structural damage to piped water and sewer infrastructure; • Impacts to waterways and aquatic wildlife, including salmon; • Impacts to and associated with wastewater and solid waste treatment and disposal; • Air quality impacts; • Different diseases in foods: seafood, animals and produce; • More frequent oil spills in rural coastal and river communities due to storms and flooding — investment and response challenge; • Relocation, modification with re -investment for existing water and sanitation systems; changes in design for new systems; • Changing strategies/practices for preserving fish habitat through water quality / land management; • Fire smoke pollution must be actively managed for health protection; integrated with firefighting agencies; • Others impacts that are currently less obvious869 2. ADEC to ACIAC: ADEC has a Duty to Prevent GHG caused Dame ADEC also presented on its duty to prevent further GHG-caused damage: The Department publicly presented on its "duty not only to react / mitigate, but to act to prevent and to control damage to the environment caused by greenhouse gases. i870 Further, the Department ab7 ACIAC Final Report, supra note 851, at 1. ' See id. at 39-54, 59, 61-65. $69 id. 870Id. at 66 (emphasis in original) (as the basis for this duty, ADEC cites both Alaska Stat. § § 44.46.020(3) ("promote and develop programs for the protection and control of the environment of the state"). a affirmed its authority and ability to serve as the leader of climate change regulation in Alaska, stating: "DEC can lead the regulatory functions of reducing emissions.""' Adopting the proposed rule would allow ADEC to meet its duty to lead in addressing climate change in Alaska. 3. ADEC to ACIAC: Climate Change RegAlation is Economically Viable Notably, ADEC presented on the economic viability of GHG regulation.S72 While speculating on the legal and economic effects of GHG regulation in Alaska, ADEC concluded that: • Free market principles will be used to achieve flexibility for lowest cost solutions — worked for acid rain; • Carbon dioxide and other GHGs will be a commodity traded and regulated by markets and governments; • Free market principles will create new economic opportunities as well the expected carbon (fuel) user costs; • Many accounting and regulatory rules will get. defined with a drive toward uniform rules nationally and internationally; • Low hanging fruit in fuel efficiency and energy conservation will make reductions comparatively easy for the first decade; • Existing federal and state air pollution control / permitting framework will be the primary implementing tool.S7' 4. ADEC to ACIAC: ADEC is Prepared to Promulgate GHG Laws Further, ADEC's presentation highlighted the state's inaction874 while offering to spearhead state action moving forward: "[ADEC] can lead the.regulatory functions of reducing emissions.""ADEC indicated to ACIAC that it was prepared to regulate, noting that it "has tracked action in other states," and has "participated with western states in building market and agency fundamentals: Inventory emissions of greenhouse gases, exploring a common `Registry' format for bookkeeping and validation of reductions."876 While ADEC is duty-bound to serve as the primary regulator and leader in reducing GHG emissions in Alaska, ADEC identified for ACIAC several state agencies already in existence, including "DCCED, DNR, Revenue, RCA, AOGCC," that would be able to help with any "life style changes, energy use, community and economic challenges."877 5. ACIAC's Findings and Recommendations 87' Id. at 68. 87$Id. at 67. $73 a '74 Id. at 69 ("state law does not currently regulate greenhouse gases"). '"Id. at 68. 8767d. at 69. 877 Id. at 68. •M, In its final report back to the Alaska Legislature, ACIAC detailed a number of alarming impacts of climate change projected for and already occurring in Alaska.878 ACIAC further stated stated that: The Commission found that climate change presents unavoidable challenges to the citizens of Alaska. There will be new responsibilities for the State of Alaska and public entities, and there will be responsibilities for private interests which individuals must accept .879 With regard to Alaska's impending "new responsibilities," despite ADEC's publicly acknowledged duty to prevent and control damage tQ the environment associated with greenhouse gases, and its authority and ability to do so, the Department has thus far failed to adopt and implement GHG-limiting regulations. D. Administrative Order Mo. 238: Alaska Climate Change Sub -Cabinet On September 14, 2007, then -Governor Sarah Palin established the Alaska Climate Change Sub -Cabinet ("CCSC") by Administrative Order No. 238 ("Order No. 238")."' CCSC, which was made up of commissioners of several state departments'881 was enacted to advise the office of the Governor "on the preparation and implementation of an Alaska climate change strategy" and "serve as, the executive branch contact to, and a resource for, the Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission."882 Order No. 238 was made based on expert findings, including that "[a]s a result of [global] warming, coastal erosion, thawing permafrost, retreating sea ice, record forest fires, and other changes are affecting, and will continue to affect, the lifestyles and livelihoods of Alaskans."883 The order acknowledged that climate change is not just "an environmental issue," but "also a social, cultural, and economic issue important to all Alaskans.,,884 Order No. 238 was a call for action, stating that: "The purpose of the Climate Change Sub -Cabinet [wa]s to advise the Office of the Governor on the preparation and implementation of an Alaska climate change strategy. ,885 Importantly, Alaska's climate change strategy "must be built on sound science and the best available facts,"886 and was meant, in part, to further the ... ACIAC Final Report, supra note 851. a" Id. at 3 (emphasis added). "0 See Order 238 supra note 353. - ... Including Commissioners of the Departments of Environmental Conservation; Natural Resources; Fish and Game; Transportation and public Facilities; and Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. See id. 882 Id. 883 id. ssa Id. ass Id. ("Alaska needs a strategy to identify and mitigate potential impacts of climate change and to guide its efforts in evaluating and addressing known or suspected causes of climate change."). 886 Id. m possibility of adopting policies "to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.."887 Notably, Governor Palin's Report on the Climate Sub -Cabinet addresses the possibility of regulation of GHG emissions immediately after acknowledging Alaska's duty to protect: "All life on Earth shares one atmosphere and each nation, each state, bears a responsibility to all to protect it.„888 Thus, in addition to the text of Alaska's Constitution and Statutes, and statements made by Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation, Alaska's former Executive (Governor Palin) too has articulated Alaska's duty to protect the atmosphere and vital natural resources. Notably, ADEC and its staff were integral to the Climate Change Sub -Cabinet's purpose and function. 89 CCSC was chaired by ADEC Commissioner Larry Hartig,890 and ADEC staff drafted several Sub -Cabinet meeting agendas and internal documents.89, I particular, ADEC was instrumental in CCSC's Mitigation Advisory Group ("MAG") functions: providing MAG with "specific leadership and support" and `vital assistance throughout „89z 1. Advisory Groups' Official Recommendations CCSC recommendations to the office of the governor were drawn from the recommendations of the Adaptation Advisory Group ("AAG"), which assessed Alaska's potential adaption strategies (i.e. the measures taken to respond to the effects of climate change), and the MAG, which assessed Alaska's mitigation options (i.e. measures that can be taken to reduce Alaska's greenhouse gas emissions, address causes of climate change).893 MAG, the Group responsible for recommending options designed to lower Alaska's GHG emissions and address the cause(s) of climate change, was, in turn, made up of five "Technical Work Groups" ("TWGs'). Theses TWGs were "assembled around general greenhouse gas mitigation action categories," including: (1) oil and gas; (2) energy supply and land use; (3) transportation and land use; (4) forestry, agriculture and waste, and; (S) cross -cutting issues.894 Each of these five TWGs was asked to recommend policy options to MAG. MAG made all final decisions as to policy options that would be officially recommended up the chain to the CCSC: ssr Governor Pohn'S Report on the Climate Change Sub -Cabinet (July 2008), http://climatechange.alash.gov/docs/govrpt_jul08.pdf. ess Id. (emphasis added). '" See Alaska Climate Change Strategy's Mitigation Advisory Group Final Report, at EX-2 (August 2009), available at http://climatechange.alaska.gOv/mit/mag him [hereinafter MAG Final Report] ("Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) provided the overall leadership of the effort and substantive support.,,); see generally See Alaska Climate Change Strategy's Mitigation Advisory Group Final Report, (August 2009), available at http://climatechange.alaska.gov/mit/mag.hbn 890 See id. at Appendix B: Description of Alaska Advisory Group Process, B-2, http://cliniatechange.alaska.gov/mit/097F21911.pdf; see also Climate Change in Alaska, http://climatechange.alaska.govlmbrs.htm. See Climate Change Sub -Cabinet Meeting Handouts, available at http://climatechange.alaska.gov/mtgs htm. MAG Final Report, supra note 889, at 1-6. sm See id. at B-3-13-9. sw See id. at p. B-6—B-9. After months of iteration, each TWG crafted a list of priority policy options, which the MAG reviewed, refined, and approved or turned back to the TWGs for further examination, clarification, and detail. The TWGs spent countless hours examining and refining the policy options as directed by the MAG. The MAG ultimately conducted multiple reviews on each policy option before approving them.s95 The Cross -Cutting Issues TWG ("CC TWG") was responsible for making policy recommendations "that cover multiple sectors." The CC TWG made six policy recommendations: (1) establishing an Alaska GHG emission reporting program [headed by ADEC19a1; (2) establishing goals for statewide GHG emission reductions; (3) identify and implement state government mitigation actions; (4) integrate Alaska's climate change mitigation strategy with the Alaska energy plan; (5) explore various market -based systems to manage GHG emissions; (6) coordinate implementation of Alaska's efforts to address climate change.897 The prospect of federal action complicated MAG's review of the CC TWG's recommendations. For example, MAG, having been encouraged that "[r]ecent recognition of climate change at the federal level may provide national guidance to states, as well as reinforce state -level activities,"898 wanted its recommendations to work in concert with expected federal regulations. "However, the undefined time frame for emerging federal rules" was seen by MAG as posing "challenges for Alaska and other states.„899 Ultimately, because it was "unclear when a final [EPA] rule w[ould] be approved," MAG opted to put the CC TWG-recommended policy to establish an Alaska GHG emission reporting program on hold "until the federal rule is released in its final form."goo Nearly eight years have passed since that decision, during which time the effects of climate change, and the associated necessity of decisive state action, have only increased. As a practical matter, CC TWG's second recommendation — proposed state-wide GHG emission reduction goals901— would necessitate the recommended GHG emissions reporting "'See id, at 1-9. s" Id. at 3-3 ("Under the proposed Alaska GHG reporting program, Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) would collect, verify, and analyze GHG emissions data to establish a baseline of anthropogenic (human -caused) GHG emissions for Alaska, and identify the types and magnitude of anthropogenic GHG emission sources in Alaska and their relative contributions. These data would be used to inform state leaders and the public on statewide GHG emission trends, identify opportunities for reducing GHG emissions, and allow the state to assess its climate change mitigation efforts overtime."). s'. Id. at 3-1, Table 3-1. asa Id. at 3-2. s" Id. at 3-2. "'Id, at 3-2. 9.. Id. at 1-9 ("The CC TWG recommended 20% below 1990 GHG emission levels by 2020, and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050."). Tellingly, these figures were based on the "United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommendation to keep atmospheric CO2levels at 450 parts per million or lower to avoid the major Ifull program, a program MAG voted to put on hold. Nevertheless, by a majority vote, MAG recommended the Sub -Cabinet adopt numeric GHG emissions reduction goals 902 Similarly, CCSC's Research Needs Work Group recommended "[a]daptable legal and policy frameworks," explaining that:. Many laws, regulations and policies on the federal, state, and local levels were developed for a static environment where climate change was not recognized. The challenge for government leaders and businesses will be to adapt to a future made less certain due to a more rapidly changing climate. This will necessitate an evaluation of existing laws, regulations and policies and possible changes to institutional, legal and policy frameworks in an adaptive manner 903 The Climate Change Sub -Cabinet was tasked with assessing the impacts of climate change and making mitigation and adaptation policy recommendations to the Office of the Governor. Regulating GHG emissions was intended to be a part of this assessment, and it was. Almost a decade ago, after a complicated and thorough assessment process —which ADEC was intimately involved in --adopting GHG regulations was formally recommended before the CCSC as a mitigation option.904 Notwithstanding the recommendations, no Alaska branch or agency of government has enacted or adopted state-wide GHG emission regulations. 2. Since ACIAC and CCSC's Final Reports After issuing its final report to the legislature in 2008, ACIAC was not commissioned to take further action. The Alaska Legislature has since taken no alternative climate action. After taking over as Governor on July 26, 2009, former ConocoPhilips executive, Sean Parnell effectively allowed the CCSC created by Gov. Palin to wither on the vine while climate change continues, unabated, to ravage the state.g05 The Sub -Cabinet has not convened since 2011. irreversible damage to the planet's ecosystem." Id. at 1-9-1-10. As discussed in Section VLC infra, the best climate science established that CO2 must be restored to 350 ppm or less in order to avoid such irreversible damage. 902 MAG Final Report, supra note 889, at 1-9, 3-1-3-7. 903 Research Needs Work Group: Recommendations on Research Needs Necessary to Implement an Alaska Climate Change Strategy, 11 (June 2009) (emphasis added), http://climatechange.alaska.gov/docs/m-12junO9—dftrpt.pdf. 904 MAG Final Report, supra note 889 at EX-12, 3-1-3-7; see id. at 6-5- 6-6. Notably, the MAG's recommendation to focus regulatory efforts on participating in development and implementation of a regulatory framework was premised on the assumption that "[t]he federal government will impose GHG regulations and requirements independent of Alaska." Id. However, what little proposed GHG federal regulations had been suggested (which were insufficient to address the impending climate emergency) are now being systematically deconstructed by the current United States executive administration. See, e.g., Exec. Order 13783, 82 Fed. Reg. 16093 (March 28, 2017) (directing rollback of Clean Power Plan, rescinding moratorium on coal mining on federal lands, and rescinding six Obama administration executive orders aimed at curbing climate change and regulating emissions, including inclusion of climate change impacts in environmental reviews); President Donald Trump, "Statement by President Trump on the Paris Climate Accord" (June 1, 2017) (Announcing United States' withdrawal from the international Paris Climate Accord), https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/06/01/statement-president-trump-paris- climate-accord. Accordingly, leadership by ADEC in regulating GHG emissions is more necessary than ever to safeguard the rights and heritage of Alaskans. 90s See Climate Change Sub -Cabinet Meeting Handouts, supra note 891; see also Amanda Terkel, Sarah Palin's Climate Change Sub -Cabinet Goes Dormant Under Alaska Governor Sean Parnell, HUFWNGTON POST (Feb. 6, 101 Notwithstanding the findings and recommendations put forth by ACIAC and CCSC. Gov. Parnell sought to reopen the debate over drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.916 Governor Walker, who took over for Governor Parnell in 2014, has likewise thus far failed to take effective measures consistent with the state's duties to address the dangers and realities of climate change. Rather than ending further contribution of GHG emissions to the already over -saturated atmosphere, Governor Walker has gone as far as to propose "extra" oil drilling to offset Alaska's already skyrocketing climate change -related 907 Governor Walked continues to advocate for expansion of oil and gas development in Alaska, and has aggressively pursued a state-owned natural gas pipeline. 908 By taking affirmative actions that allow GHG emissions to continue at dangerous levels and by failing to take sufficient action to do its part to ensure public safety in the face of dangerous climatic changes, the state and ADEC are failing to fulfill their governmental duty to safeguard Public Trust resources, infringing Petitioners' due process rights, and discriminating against Petitioners in contravention of principles of equal protection. After spending more than a decade and millions of dollars on assessment, since ACIAC and CCSC presented on their respective findings, the State of Alaska has yet to adopt any policy aimed at addressing and alleviating the dangers climate change poses to Alaska's youth, its posterity, and the natural resources and environment on which their lives depend. Instead, Alaska and ADEC have persisted in business as usual approvals, permits, and authorizations of activities that substantial contribute to the climate crisis and infringe Petitioners' inalienable rights. Alaska and ADEC's persistent failure to reverse course and address Alaska's fair share of the climate crisis constitutes a further, continuing violation of those rights. The people of Alaska, especially its youth, including Petitioners, and future generations, cannot wait any longer for the state to take action to protect their rights. It is increasingly urgent that the Department delay no longer and immediately fulfill its obligation to promulgate a rule to reduce the state's GHG emissions according to the best climate science. E. Alaska Has the Resources and Structurers in Place to Act ADEC need not wait any longer. ADEC is uniquely situated: it has a duty to prevent further GHG-caused damage, the authority and wherewithal to promulgate a needed emissions reduction rule and the stated ability to lead the GHG regulatory functions. ADEC cannot meet its duty to act by waiting for Executive or Legislative direction. The degree of urgency is simply too 2013), http://www hufringtonpost.com/2013/02/06/sarab-palin-climate-change_t _2630262 html; DEC Response to Public Records Request (Feb. 1, 2013), http://www.peer.org/assets/docs/akt2-5—l3—Alaska chmate� explanation.pdf (DEC admits last CCSC Group meeting was in 2011, refuses to release final MAG agendas from 2010). 9" See Jake Miller, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell Seeks to Reopen Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling Debate, CBS Naws (June 1, 2013), http://www.cbsnews.conVnews/alaska-gov-sean-pamell-seeks-to-reopen-arctic-national- wildlife-refuge-drilling-debate. ... See Matt McGrath, Alaska Mulls Extra Oil Drilling to Cope with Climate Change, BBC (Oct. 12, 2015), http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34501867, 908 Letter from Bill Walker, AK Governor; to Donald Trump, United States President -Elect (Dec. 1, 2016), https://drive.google.com/file/d/OB8bOjvl loHOkVzdlMldCZExpOTA/view; Letter from Bill Walker, AK Governor, to Ryan Zinke, U.S. Dep't Interior Secretary Nominee (Jan. 5, 2017), https://drive.google.com/file/d/OB8bOjvl l oHOkbFVmRmNvX2QtTTg/view. 102 great. This petition should be seen for what it is: an opportunity for ADEC to fulfill its constitutional, statutory, and Public Trust obligations and do what it has said needs to be done. An emissions reduction rule needs to be promulgated, and ADEC has the authority and obligation to fulfill that need. . The legislature has tasked the Department of Environmental Conservation with the primary responsibility, authority, and obligation to adopt necessary regulations to conserve, improve, and protect State natural resources in order to enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state, and fulfill the State's public trust duty to present and future generations.909 ADEC has affirmed that these fiduciary duties require the Department to take affirmative measures to address climate change. Citing AS §§ 46.03.010 and 44.46.020(3), ADEC has publicly stated that: "It's a DEC duty not only to react / mitigate, but to act to prevent and to control damage to the environment caused by greenhouse gases."910 The Department of Environmental Conservation is the primary delegated trustee of the state when it comes to assessing and addressing climate change. While ADEC has been the Department responsible for educating911 and overseeing912 state -appointed climate assessment and strategy commissions and groups, ADEC has had lots of help. ADEC has worked closely with many other public (and private) departments, agencies and groups on climate change impacts assessment and strategy. Although ADEC is the agency with primary responsibility for issuing regulations necessary to implement an effective emissions reductions strategy (see Section V supra), these entities may be available to assist and ensure that such a strategy is implemented efficiently and responsibly across all sectors of Alaska. Included are still -in -tact as well as dormant groups, all of which may be of assistance. Some of these groups are: The Governor's "Alaska Climate Change Sub -Cabinet," which is made up of` The Adaptation Advisory Group, composed of the following work groups: • public infrastructure • health and culture natural systems, and • economic activities • Mitigation Advisory Group, which is made up of five work groups: • oil and gas • energy supply and demand • transportation and land use • forestry, agriculture and waste, and • cross -cutting issues • Research Needs Workgroup "See ALASKA $TAT. §§ 46.03.010(a), (b); 46.03.020(10); 44.46.020(a). By constitutional command, the State of Alaska "shall provide for the utilization, development, and conservation of all natural resources belonging to the State, including land and waters, for the maximum benefit of its people." 91' See ADEC Presentation, supra note 5, at 66 (emphasis in original). "' See ADEC Presentation, supra note 5. 92 MAG Final Report, supra note 889, at EX-2 ("Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) provided the overall leadership of the [Mitigation Advisory Group] effort and substantive support."). 103 • Immediate Action Group,913 the members of which include: United States Army Corps of Engineers • Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development • Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry • Department of Transportation and Public Facilities • Denali Commission Alaska Municipal League Alaska State Legislative Budget & Audit Committee Alaska Division of Homeland Security / Emergency Management • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium • Environmental Protection Agency • US Economic Development Administration - Department of Commerce; AK Office914 The "Climate. Ecosystems & Human Health Work Group" (formerly known as the "Alaska Interagency Ecosystem Health Work Group"), which is Co-chaired by: • the Alaska Dept of Health and Social Services - Division of Public Health, • the US Environmental Protection Agency, and • the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium - Center for Climate and Health, and directly partners with: • The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), • Alaska Pacific University (APU), • UAA's Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies, • Alaska SeaLife Center, • . US Arctic Research Commission, • US Geological Survey (USGS), • US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), • Alaska Dep't of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), • Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, • UAF's Alaska Center for Climate Assessment & Policy (ACCAP)915. Alaska Climate Chanee Impact Mitigation Program91e Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, 917 which has partnered on climate change issues with • Center for Climate and Health • Department of Environmental Health and Engineering 913 See Climate Change Advisory Groups Background, CLIMATE CHANGE IN ALASKA, http://climatechange.alaska.gov/advgrp.htm. 914 See Immediate Action Workgroup, CLIMATE CHANGE IN ALASKA, http://climatechange.alaska.gov/iaw.htm. 9u See Climate, Ecosystems, and Human Health Work Group, CLIMATE CHANGE IN ALASKA, htip://climatechange.alaska.gov/chh htm ("This interagency led group focuses on addressing ecosystem impacts to human health resulting from a changing climate."). 91. See Alaska Climate Change Impact Mitigation Program, CLIMATE CHANGE IN ALASKA (Feb. 2011), http://climatechange.alaska.gov/docs/afel 1/ACCIMP_cox_feb1l.pdf ("Established by Alaska Legislature in 2008 to assist communities imminently threatened by climate change phenomena."). 917 See Mike Black, Climate Change Impacts in Alaska, ALASKA NATIVE TRIBAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM (Feb. 2011), http://climatechange.alaska.gov/doca/afel VCCH_black_febl 1.pdf. W • Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities918 • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers919 • The Department of Commerce Community, and Economic Development The • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration • National Marine Fisheries Service • Alaskan Non -Governmental Organizations As ADEC itself has publicly affirmed, it has the authority, ability, and willingness to "lead the regulatory functions of reducing emissions. s921 With ADEC at the helm and an ADEC regulation mandating GHG reductions in line with the best climate science in place, these groups, collectively, can assist ADEC in effectively addressing climate change in the State of Alaska. VIII. CONCLUSION As indicated above, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has both the legal obligation and authority to do its part to protect the citizens of Alaska from catastrophic climate change. The best climate science indicates that a return to an atmospheric concentration of 350 ppm of CO2 by the end of the century is needed. Therefore, Petitioners respectfully request that the Department lead Alaska's efforts to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by promulgating the proposed rule (or a similar rule that accomplishes the intended purpose of this rule): ADEC's adoption of the proposed rule is appropriate because, as explained above, the exposure profiles and meteorological conditions in Alaska with respect to GHGs are significantly different in the state than in other areas of the United States and reasonably require the regulations in order to protect human health, welfare, and the environment.922 Climate change is warming Alaska at twice the average global rate.923 Further, implementation and enforcement of the proposed regulations is both technologically and economically feasible.924 9's See Michael J. Coffey, Addressing Climate Change Impacts in Alaska Communities, ALASKA DEPARTMENT of TRANSPORTATION & PUBL1c FAciLnTEs, http://climatechange.alaska.gov/docs/afe I l/DOTPF_coffey_febl l.pdf. "See Trish Opheen, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Activities: Infrastructure and Coastal Erosion (Feb. 2011) http://climateebange.alaska.gov/does/afel l /USCOE_opheen_feb I l .pdf.. 920 See ADEC Presentation, supra note 5, at 68 (Stating that "DEC can lead the regulatory functions of reducing emissions. Life style changes, energy use, community and economic challenges are best stimulated or managed by other state agencies: DCCED, DNR, Revenue, RCA, AOGCC."). 921 Id. 9" ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.14.010(c), (d) (West 2016). 9" Kat Sorenson, Alaska Continues to Warm at Twice the Global Rate, PENINSULA CLARioN (Apr. 25, 2017), http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/2017-04-25/alaska-continues-warm-twice-global-rate. 924 ALASKA STAT. ANN. § 46.14.010(c)(2), (3) (West 2016); see Jacobson, supra note 787; The Solutions Project, supra note 844; See Section VI.B.7 infra (re: economic feasibility). 105 The Department's statutory obligations must be considered in the context of the Public Trust Doctrine and the Alaska Constitution. As one court in Washington has explained, an agency's statutory duty "must be understood in the context not just of the [State's] Clean Air Act itself but in recognition of the Washington Constitution and the Public Trust Doctrine. ,925 . Accordingly, given the aforementioned grants of authority, description of obligations, and statements of policy, Petitioners respectfully request that the Department adopt the proposed rule. Cumulatively, the proposed rule will allow Alaska to its part in achieving emission reductions on the scale necessary to avert disastrous consequences and substantial impairment to public trust resources. Failure to take immediate action to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions will increase the cost and magnitude of future reduction requirements and, more significantly, will result in catastrophic and irreversible adverse effects on petitioners, children, and future generations of Alaskans. Alaska and the Departments' historic and continuing actions of permitting, authorizing, and incentivizing the development, extraction, combustion, and transportation of fossil fuels and other emissions -producing activities have substantially contributed to and caused the current climate crisis in violation of Petitioners' Public Trust and constitutional rights. hi further violation of Petitioners' rights, notwithstanding its clear duty, the Department has yet to meet its obligation to adopt and enforce regulations that would reduce the state's GHG emissions by amounts needed to help secure a healthy atmosphere and stable climate and protect the public natural resources of the state. Petitioners respectfully request that the Department adopt the proposed rule so that ADEC and the state can remedy the violations of Petitioners' fundamental rights and fulfill their obligation to ensure that Alaska do its share in achieving emissions reductions necessary to serve a stable climate system and avert the worst consequences of the current climate crisis. 92 . v2s Foster v. Wash Dept of Ecology, No. 14-2-25295-1, slip op. at 6 (Wash. King Cty. Super. Ct. Nov. 19, 2015), https://staticI.squarespace.com/static/571 dl09b04426270152febe0/t/57607fe459827eb874Ia852c/l465941993492/ 15.11.19.Order_FosterV.Ecology.pdf. 926 The proposed rule requests ADEC to require emissions reductions from Alaska consistent with targets based on the global average emissions reductions required to remedy our climate emergency without accounting for the differentiated and equitable responsibilities of individual states and their historic contribution to carbon pollution. Alaska's per capita emissions are amongst the highest in the nation. See U.S. Energy Information Administration, Energy -related Carbon Dioxide Emissions at the State Level, 2000-2014 (Jan. 17, 2017) https://www.eia.goy/environment/emissions/state/analysis/. In turn, the United States is the historically largest emitter of CO2, the current second-largest emitter, and its per capita emissions are the greatest in the world. See Hansen, Young People's Burden, supra note 109 at 29. Accordingly, were Alaska to adopt a rule accounting for its historic equitable responsibility for the current climate crisis relative to other states and countries, such a Wile would likely require more stringent emissions reductions than those proposed by Petitioners. 106