A new Supreme Court term begins Monday with arguments in a blockbuster case about the reach of state power.

Boulder, Colo., is suing two big energy companies, arguing they deceived people about the harms of fossil fuels and contributed to disasters that cost Boulder a lot of time and money.

The dispute could have ramifications far beyond the climate, to other areas where states are trying to hold companies accountable for their alleged harms to local communities.

In 2018, Boulder County slapped the giant energy companies Suncor Energy and Exxon Mobil with a lawsuit. Boulder argued the companies and a trade group knew decades ago that fossil fuels would hurt the environment, raising the risk of floods, extreme heat and wildfires.

Three years later, in late December 2021, the Marshall Fire swept across the county.

Daryl McCool left her home southeast of Boulder so fast she couldn’t remember whether she locked the front door.

As it turned out, that didn’t matter.

“There’s basically nothing left,” McCool said. “A 2,000-degree fire burns everything, like coins were melted, bicycles melted.”

Daryl McCool poses inside her rebuilt home in Superior, Colorado. Her previous home was destroyed in the Marshall Fire, which swept through Superior and Louisville on Dec. 30, 2021.

Jimena Peck for NPR

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Jimena Peck for NPR

The historic 1901 house where she raised her son had turned to ash. McCool spent years helping her neighbors file insurance papers and apply for grants to rebuild their homes. Now, she tries to educate people about the human costs of climate change.

Who has power to grapple with climate change

Corey Riday-White is legal director at the Center for Climate Integrity. It supports communities trying to hold oil companies responsible for environmental harms.

“This case represents whether or not we believe as a society that corporations should be held to the same standards that all of us are, right?” Riday-White said. “If you know you are going to cause harm, and you don’t tell someone, then you should help clean up that harm.”

Boulder’s lawsuit has not gone to trial; it’s still in the early stages in the Colorado court system. But the energy companies are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out the case now. The companies say only the federal government has the power and expertise to grapple with something as big as climate change. To let Boulder’s case proceed, they say, would have huge implications.