Reporting by Raj Chohan

DENVER (CBS4) ? Global warming is a hot topic in science, government and now in law. Some states are now trying to sue industry over the effects of climate change.

The cause and effect of greenhouse gases and global climate change is hotly debated in science, but has been largely ignored in the nation’s legislatures. But a new trend in environmental litigation has people looking for change, not just in the state House, but rather in the courthouse.

“I’ve been in environmental law for a quarter century and this is the most exciting time I have ever seen,” said University of Denver law professor Federico Cheever.

Cheever said an upcoming symposium at the DU’s Sturm College of Law will look at the future of climate change litigation, including questions about who should bear the costs of global warming.

“There are going to be costs like hurricanes, droughts for the Colorado ski industry, things like loss of some of its snowpack,” Cheever said. “California is already very concerned about its snowpack. Coastal areas are terribly concerned, and the question is, who those costs are going to fall on. Who’s going to pay the price of climate change?”

The implicit assumption in the environmental community is that man-made greenhouse gases are responsible for the earth’s rising temperatures. Attorney General John Suthers, the keynote speaker at the symposium, is not convinced.

“I accept the fact that the evidence is pretty clear that the earth has warmed over the last couple of decades,” Suthers said. “I am not as convinced, as many people in the environmental community are, that this is caused by greenhouse gas emissions, versus a cyclical event that the earth has experienced before.”

To the extent there is a problem. Suthers said state action on global warming should come from legislatures, and not from courts. He believes the attorney generals in other states like New York and California have been mistaken in their attempts to sue out-of-state carmakers and utilities for their role in the production of greenhouse gases.

“Congress needs to deal with it, we need to make Congress deal with it, states can deal with their own problems,” Suthers said. “But New York can’t solve Colorado’s problems and California can’t solve Colorado’s problems.”

“I think most people are convinced that Congress will come up with some sort of climate change legislation in the next couple of years,” Cheever said. “There doesn’t seem to be anyone standing in the way of that.”

While lawsuits in this area have been largely unsuccessful, they are on the rise, and legal experts say its only a matter of time before some of these plaintiffs prevail.

The climate change symposium is being held at the DU law school Friday, Feb. 8.

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