Fossil fuel investors are going to hate this.
But I don’t care.
I don’t invest to make friends. I invest to make money.
And what I’m about to share with you today is either going to piss you off or put a giant grin on your face.
If you’re the former, I encourage you to keep reading, though, as this news — while it may make you quite angry — could help save you from losing an enormous amount of money.
A Huge Pandora’s Box
Last Friday, something amazing happened.
A court decision was handed down in a U.S. federal district court that could really be the death knell for the fossil fuel industry in the United States. I would even argue that it just ended the war on fossil fuels.
While I don’t mean to come off as over-the-top here, it’s not hard to look at this for what it really is: the beginning of the end for fossil fuel dominance in our energy economy.
On Friday, U.S. federal district court Judge Thomas Coffin ruled in favor of 21 plaintiffs in a constitutional case against the U.S. government and the fossil fuel industry.
As reported in Forbes, the lawsuit alleges that the federal government is violating the plaintiffs’ constitutional and public trust rights by promoting the use of fossil fuels. The complaint explains that, for over 50 years, the United States government and the fossil fuel industry have known that carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels can cause climate change and that continuing to burn fossil fuels destabilizes the climate system.
Basically, the judge decided that because climate change could ultimately hurt future generations the most, they have the right to sue.
Think about that for a moment.
A federal judge just said that folks can sue both the government and the fossil fuel industry for affecting the climate. This is a groundbreaking decision.
This is, without a doubt, a huge Pandora’s box.
As if the fossil fuel industry didn’t have enough to worry about with the so-called war on coal and collapsing oil and gas prices, now there’s the potential for an avalanche of new lawsuits. These guys are going to end up spending more money on lawyers than on actual production!
But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s get back to this recent lawsuit, which, by the way, was filed on behalf of future generations of U.S. citizens.
Here’s what attorney Philip Gregory had say about the decision:
This decision is one of the most significant in our nation’s history. The Court upheld our claims that the federal government intensified the danger to our plaintiffs’ lives, liberty and property. Judge Coffin decided our Complaint will move forward and put climate science squarely in front of the federal courts. The next step is for the Court to order our government to cease jeopardizing the climate system for present and future generations.
Forbes also noted that the court’s decision upheld the plaintiffs’ claims in the Fifth and Ninth Amendments “by denying them protections afforded to previous generations and by favoring the short-term economic interests of certain citizens.”
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You Have Two Choices
Now, I don’t know how all of this is going to pan out.
But here’s what I do know…
Despite the continued debate over climate change, most of the world is accepting the theory that “human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.”
You may or may not agree with this theory, but for our purposes of creating and protecting wealth, it doesn’t matter.
Your thoughts and my thoughts are fairly irrelevant.
The transition of our global energy economy is well underway, and some of this transition is being facilitated by new policies, laws, and regulations designed to limit CO2 emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
So you have two choices:
You can rant and rave on Internet message boards about how climate change is a scam, or you can accept that efforts to limit CO2 emissions can make you a lot of money.
I’ve made my choice, and it’s a choice that’s partly based on my bottom line.
It’s All in the Game
Since 2005, I’ve been writing about this global transition of our energy economy, focusing primarily on new sources of cleaner energy that will help alleviate environmental burdens that the world now faces.
As a result, I’ve made a ton of money. And I make no apologies for this.
Just as anyone who’s made a boatload of cash in fossil fuels has nothing to apologize for, either.
Look, as Omar Little from The Wire said, “It’s all in the game.”
While some folks may read this and declare me a tree-hugger, hippie, greenie, or socialist, I’m laughing all the way to the bank.
It’s all in the game, dear reader. It’s all in the game. And I’m in it to win it. That’s why I have limited exposure to the fossil fuel space and will continue to build my positions in the clean energy space. You should be doing the same.
To a new way of life and a new generation of wealth…
Jeff Siegel
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@JeffSiegel on Twitter
Jeff is the founder and managing editor of Green Chip Stocks. For more on Jeff, go to his editor’s page.
