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Prior Proceedings
May 9, 2013
The Iowa Supreme Court declined 14-year-old Glori Dei Filippone’s appeal for further review in her climate change case.
Read the press release.
April 2, 2013
Glori Dei Filippone filed an appeal to the Iowa Supreme court today after the Court of Appeals ruled against her in her case to compel the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to adopt rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Glori Dei had argued that the State of Iowa has an obligation to protect the atmosphere under the Iowa Constitution and the Public Trust Doctrine.
According to Judge Doyle, the legislative intent to protect the atmosphere is “as clear as a crisp, cloudless, autumn Iowa sky,” and although Iowa courts have never had the occasion to extend the Public Trust Doctrine to include the atmosphere, he believes “there is a sound public policy basis for doing so.” Judge Doyle has joined the ranks of three other state court judges, from Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona who have also indicated that the atmosphere falls within the protective mandate of the Public Trust Doctrine.
“It is fitting that the Iowa appeal was filed the day after Dr. James Hansen, a native of Dennison, Iowa, and the chief science advisor to Our Children’s Trust announced his retirement,” said Channing Dutton, Glori Dei’s lawyer. “Although the legal basis for the lawsuit in Iowa is contested, the Iowa DNR and the Iowa court system have accepted the science on climate change, provided by Dr. Hansen for the litigation, as fact.”
Read the full press release.
March 13, 2013
The Iowa Court of Appeals ruled against Glori Dei Filippone, a 14-year-old Iowan, in her case to compel the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to adopt rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions in Iowa. Glori Dei had argued that the State of Iowa has an obligation to protect the atmosphere under the Iowa Constitution and the Public Trust Doctrine. While the three-judge panel declined to hold that the atmosphere is a public trust resource in Iowa, Judge Doyle issued a notable concurring opinion.
Finding there is a “sound public policy basis” for extending the public trust doctrine to include the atmosphere, Judge Doyle cited to Iowa statutes that express the policy of the state to protect “its natural resource heritage of air” and that affirm the right of all Iowans to “inherit this ecosystem in a sustainable condition.” Judge Doyle urged extending the public trust to the atmosphere, saying, “[t]he legislature, the voice of the people, has spoken in terms as clear as a crisp, cloudless, autumn Iowa sky.”
Read the complete press release for more information.
May 1, 2012
Glori Dei and her attorney Channing Dutton filed their opening brief to the Iowa Supreme Court and argue that the Court must uphold the public's right to protection of the State's essential natural resources, including our air and atmosphere, water and wildlife.
February 29, 2012
Glori Dei appeals her case to the Iowa Supreme Court. Her appeal will argue that the air, our atmosphere, is the most important of all trust resources and the State must protect it on behalf of the people.
January 30, 2012
Iowa District Court for Polk County affirmed the Department of Natural Resources decision to deny Glori's petition for rulemaking. In its decision, the Court decided that it would not apply the Public Trust Doctrine in Iowa to the atmosphere.
July 21, 2011
Channing Dutton, the attorney working with Our Children's Trust in Iowa, filed a lawsuit (access it here) against the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in state court, seeking judicial review of DNR denial of the petition for rulemaking: press release.
June 22, 2011
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources denied the petition for rulemaking submitted.
June 21, 2011
Glori Dei Filippone gave a presentation before the Department of Natural Resources in support of the petition filed on behalf of Kids vs. Global Warming.
May 4, 2011
A petition for rulemaking was filed against the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.