SAN FRANCISCO - Two environmental groups and four US cities may sue US federal agencies which finance overseas projects which they say contribute to global warming, a federal judge has ruled.
The two federal agencies -- Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Export-Import Bank of the United States -- had asked the US District Court for the Northern District of California to dismiss the lawsuit.
It was brought by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the cities of Boulder, Colorado, Santa Monica, California, Oakland, California and Arcata, California.
Judge Jeffrey White ruled on Tuesday that US law allows the groups and cities to proceed with their lawsuit because they may be affected by overseas agency-backed projects whose emissions are linked to global warming.
"The landmark decision is the first time that a federal court has specifically granted legal standing for a lawsuit exclusively alleging injury from global warming and challenging the federal government's failure to evaluate the impacts of its actions on the Earth's climate and US citizens," the Friends of the Earth said in a statement on its Web site.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation were not immediately available for comment.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
