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Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, in an interview with The Oregonian following his re-election this year.

(Dave Killen/The Oregonian)

Two Eugene teens are about to have their day in court after suing Gov. John Kitzhaber more than three years ago for failing to protect their generation from climate change.

Lane County Circuit Court Judge Karsten Rasmussen is scheduled to hear arguments March 13 related to 18-year-old Kelsey Juliana and 14-year-old Olivia Chernaik's claims that Oregon's state government is violating the public trust doctrine by moving too slowly to protect Oregon's natural resources from the impacts of carbon dioxide pollution.

“The case is really about our generation having a moral obligation to the youth in future generations,” said Chris Winter, co-director of the Portland-based Crag Law Center, who is representing Juliana and Chernaik.

Winter filed a motion for partial summary judgment on Friday asking the court to rule in the teens’ favor. On the same day, state lawyers filed their own motion asking the court to rule against the teens on the grounds that climate change is a political issue rather than a legal one

Both motions will be considered during the March hearing.

The court date is a significant milestone in a suit that nearly fizzled at the outset. The teens filed suit in 2011 with the help of Our Children's Trust, a Eugene-based nonprofit that advocates for tighter emissions controls on behalf of youth and has launched similar lawsuits across the country.

Months later, Rasmussen dismissed the case at the state's request. He ruled that decisions about resource use are a political issue over which the court has no authority. The Oregon Court of Appeals disagreed, and ruled in June that the lawsuit should not have been dismissed. That landed the matter back in Lane County.

The teens' suit relies upon Oregon's failure to meet the carbon emission reduction goals laid out eight years ago in House Bill 3543. Even if Oregon did meet the goals, they argue, future generations would remain vulnerable to the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

“Those goals were not chosen based on the best science that was available,” said Julia Olson, executive director of Our Children’s Trust. “They were selected for political reasons and they’re not legally binding.”

Juliana and Chernaik have garnered some high-profile supporters, including Eugene’s mayor. The director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute – a consortium of scientists the state Legislature established to help steer Oregon’s climate change response strategy -- has also written testimony in support of the teens' claims.

Juliana, who starts college this week in North Carolina after spending the fall walking across the country in the Great March for Climate Action, plans to finish her semester early in order to fly home for the March hearing.

“This issue needs attention from all branches of government,” she said. “Kids don’t get to vote yet and we don’t have money to donate to campaigns, but we as a generation have the most at stake, and the most to gain from taking action.”

Olson, the Our Children’s Trust director, said the Oregon teens’ case is “the case to watch” among dozens of related suits in various stages of development across the country.

“It will be the first substantive decision on these really important issues,” she said.

--Kelly House

khouse@oregonian.com

503-221-8178

@kelly_m_house