Summary/Abstract
This Article examines how U.S. environmental laws might apply to climate engineering research and how the U.S. courts would review disputes over those projects. Part I surveys the development and background of climate change policy and explains how climate engineering fits into that structure. Part II outlines specific technologies and techniques used in climate engineering. The attributes of climate engineering itself will define the likely parties involved in future legal actions as well as the likely initial strategies and approaches to these legal issues. Part III examines how challenges to climate engineering might avoid, or fall prey to, roadblocks that have impeded efforts to bring environmental lawsuits under federal environmental statutes and tort law targeting governmental or private entities for their contributions to global climate change effects. Some of these litigation pitfalls include doctrines on standing, justiciability, proof of causation, and limitations on remedies that a court can impose. This Article concludes by pointing out how this new type of environmental litigation may provide an opportunity for U.S. courts to address climate change issues in a context better suited to their institutional role and limits and offers suggestions on how the federal government might best respond to these challenges.