Republican lawmakers are moving to grant oil and gas companies sweeping protection from climate liability, introducing federal bills that would block legal action against the industry and invalidate state-level accountability measures already on the books.
The twin proposals, led by Wyoming Representative Harriet Hageman in the House and Texas Senator Ted Cruz in the Senate, would immunize energy companies from lawsuits and policies designed to hold them responsible for climate damages. The bills would dismiss pending climate cases, eliminate state superfund laws requiring polluters to pay for emissions-related harm, and prevent similar efforts in the future.
Named the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026, the legislation mirrors a 2005 federal shield protecting firearms manufacturers. Hageman's office characterized the bills as necessary to counter what it called âleftist legal crusades punishing lawful activity.â
The push comes as more than 70 state and local governments have sued oil companies over climate deception, while New York and Vermont have passed climate superfund laws. Other states are considering comparable measures.
Delta Merner, lead scientist at Union of Concerned Scientists' climate litigation hub, said the bills attempt to dismantle the foundation of climate accountability. Hageman's proposal falsely claims the federal government has exclusive authority over greenhouse gas regulation, Merner noted, effectively removing decisions about local climate harms from state and local hands. Cruz's bill goes further, seeking to undermine climate attribution science,research showing how warming intensifies specific extreme weather events,on which some climate lawsuits rely.
âTo try to legislate that science away is something that's really alarming,â Merner said.
The oil industry has made no secret of its priorities. The American Petroleum Institute listed blocking âabusiveâ climate lawsuits as a top goal this year. Last year, ConocoPhillips and API both pressed Congress on draft liability-limiting bills, while 16 Republican state attorneys general requested a liability shield from the Justice Department.
Industry groups have praised the federal bills. In a joint statement, American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers CEO Chet Thompson thanked Hageman and Cruz, urging Congress to âreaffirm federal authority over national energy policy and end this activist-driven state overreach.â
The federal bills arrive as red states enact their own climate lawsuit barriers. Tennessee passed a blocking measure last week, while Utah approved similar legislation earlier this month. Yet the federal proposals stand out for their directness, according to Cassidy DiPaola of Make Polluters Pay, an advocacy group backing superfund laws.
âIt's honestly shocking how direct the federal lawmakers are being with their wording,â DiPaola said. âThey're not hiding the ball whatsoever. They're saying it out front: 'You can't hold us accountable.'â
The bills may not pass as standalone measures. Congressional Republicans may lack the votes needed, and observers expect such language could instead be folded into larger legislation or passed through the budget reconciliation process, which requires only a simple majority rather than the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster.
Yet the legislation represents the capstone of a multifaceted industry strategy, according to Merner. The oil sector has challenged superfund laws in court, sought to dismiss lawsuits, and pursued immunity in tandem. Some litigation has failed, but the industry has also seen victories, with some climate cases thrown out by courts. A federal judge, however, recently rejected a Trump administration lawsuit aimed at blocking Hawaii from suing oil companies.
âThe industry knows it's vulnerable,â Merner said. âThey are not totally confident they can win cases on their merits.â
Former Washington Governor Jay Inslee recently raised alarms about the industry's push, calling it âdisgusting.â
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, which backs climate litigation, said the bills have clarified the industry's intentions. âIf there was any doubt that they would try to do something this outrageous and this damaging to the justice system and to people's rights to go to court to seek redress for harms, there's no doubt any more,â he said.
Author James Rodriguez: "The oil industry isn't even pretending it wants a fair legal fight anymore,it just wants immunity from the courthouse door."
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