Young Colorado Plaintiffs Seek Review of Fracking, Climate Case After Judge’s Racist Comments

Racist comments by a Colorado Court of Appeals judge have prompted seven young plaintiffs to ask the state to vacate several judicial decisions. Those decisions led to a recent Colorado Supreme Court ruling against them in their lawsuit to force the state to consider the impacts on public health and the climate when allowing oil and gas development.

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is the lead plaintiff in a case asking
Colorado's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to
consider the impacts of public health and the climate
when allowing oil and gas development.

That ruling, allowing the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to ignore public health, safety, and welfare concerns in permitting fossil fuel development, relied in part on a dissenting opinion by Court of Appeals Judge Laurie Booras.

Booras was suspended last March pending an investigation of allegations that she called a fellow appeals court judge a “little Mexican,” and a judicial review panel recently substantiated the allegations, specifically mentioning her racist comments were particularly inappropriate because the lead plaintiff in the oil and gas case, Martinez v COGCC, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, is Native American and Latino.

Read the Climate Liability News story by Karen Savage - “Young Colorado Plaintiffs Seek Review of Fracking, Climate Case After Judge’s Racist Comments.”