Res No 110-20-15550RESOLUTION NO.110-20-15550
A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commissioners of the City of South Miami,
Florida, authorizing the City Attorney to sign onto the amicus submission being
filed In the Saachi v. Argentina, et at. case before the United Nations
Committee on the Rights of the Child.
WHEREAS, the New York City Corporation Counsel is filing an amicus submission in
the Saachi v. Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey case that is before the United
Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. The goal of this brief is to highlight the
experience of cities with respect to climate change and its impacts; and
WHEREAS, Saachi v. Argentina stems from a petition submitted by sixteen children
from around the world, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, asserting that the
five named respondent countries (all of which are signatories to the U.N. Convention on the
Rights of the Child, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Paris
Agreement) are violating the children's rights by making insufficient cuts to greenhouse gas
emissions and failing to use available tools to protect children from carbon pollution and its
effects by the world's major emitters of greenhouse gases. The petition requests that the
Committee make findings that climate change is a children's rights crisis, that each respondent
country has caused and is perpetuating climate change by knowingly acting in disregard of
available scientific evidence, and that each respondent is violating petitioners' rights to life,
health, and the prioritization of the child's best interests, as well as the cultural rights of the
petitioners from indigenous communities; and
WHEREAS, the City of South Miami was an intervenor in the case of West Virginia, et al.,
v United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"), et at, Case No. 15-1363 filed in the
United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, where approximately 23 states and
numerous major cities were supporting the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan; and
WHEREAS, the City of South Miami joined with most of the same intervenors to file suit
against the Trump Administration's EPA. The City joins this suit in opposition to the repeal of
the Clean Power Plan, and the substitution of the Trump Administration's ACE rule, because the
ACE rule did little or nothing to curtain carbon dioxide emissions of electric generating power
plants; and
WHEREAS, the petitioners in the Sacchi case need examples of specific climate change
Impacts on cities and the experiences the City of South Miami may serve as a helpful illustration
of certain climate change impacts (e.g. sea level rise, increased heat waves, etc.); and
WHEREAS, the City's participation in the Sacchi case furthers the goal of the City of
South Miami to fight climate change; and
Pagel of 2
Res. No. 110-20-15550
WHEREAS, the Mayor and City Commission desires to participate and provide support
to the petitioners in the Sacchi case.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSIONERS OF THE
CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA:
Section 1. The foregoing recitals are hereby ratified and confirmed as being true and
correct and are hereby made a specific part of this resolution upon adoption hereof.
Section 2. The City Attorney is hereby authorized to sign onto the amicus submission
and provide support for the case of Soachi v. Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey by,
among other things, documenting the impact that climate change is having on the City in
particular and South Florida in general.
Section 3. Corrections. Conforming language or technical scrivener -type corrections
may be made by the City Attorney for any conforming amendments to be incorporated into the
final resolution for signature.
Section 4. Severability. If any section clause, sentence, or phrase of this resolution is for
any reason held invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, the holding
shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this resolution.
Section S. Effective Date. This resolution shall become effective immediately upon
adoption.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this 18`h day of August • 2020.
ATTEST: APPROVED:
CITY CLERK MAYOR
READ AND APPROVED AS TO FORM,
LANGUAGE, LEGALITY AND
EXECUTION THERE F'
CITYATTORNEY
COMMISSION VOTE:
5-0
Mayor Philips:
Yea
Vice Mayor Welsh:
Yea
Commissioner Harris:
Yea
Commissioner Liebman:
Yea
Commissioner Gil:
Yea
Page 2 of 2
Agenda item No:12.
City Commission Agenda Item Report
Meeting Date: August 18, 2020
Submitted by: Thomas Pepe
Submitting Department: City Attorney
Rem Type: Resolution
Agenda Section:
Subject:
A Resolution of the Mayor and City Commissioners of the City of South Miami, Florida, authorizing the City
Attorney to sign onto the amicus submission being filed in the Saachi v. Argentina, et al. case before the United
Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. 3/5 (Mayor Philips)
Suggested Action:
Attachments:
Res SupportingWre SacchiCase.doc