π79% of homeowners report rising home insurance premiums.
π66% of voters see a connection between Big Oil, extreme weather, and rising insurance costs.
π61% of voters support legislation that would empower states to sue Big Oil companies to recover insurance-related costs from climate disasters.
More lawmakers want to shield Big Oil companies from accountability over their role in the climate crisis.
π£ Big Oil should not be above the law! π£
π27 Republican AGs pushed to delete the climate chapter in a scientific reference manual for judges.
π16 Republican AGs urged the DOJ to βrecommend legislationβ to stop climate lawsuits.
What do these Attorneys General have in common? They're all members of RAGA, a group that's funded by Big Oil.
π¨A lawmaker in Louisiana just intro'd a bill that would shield oil companies from climate lawsuits.
Similar bills have moved forward in OK and UT. A member of Congress said she's drafting a bill.
API said this was a top priority.
www.eenews.net/articles/lou...
track.govhawk.com/public/bills...
Rhode Islanders have a lot to lose from the rising seas and coastal flooding that come with fossil fuel-driven climate change.
HB 7752 would empower insurance companies to take Big Oil companies to court to recover climate change-driven losses, rather than passing those costs on to policyholders. π
This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Exxon and Suncorβs arguments for why they should not stand trial in one of a growing number of lawsuits that seek to hold Big Oil companies accountable for their climate lies and make them pay for the resulting damages.
Hereβs what you need to know. π
"Climate change didnβt happen by accident, and not everyone shares equal blame," writes HawaiΚ»i State Senator Jarrett Keohokalole. "Itβs time to protect ourselves β and make the polluters pay."
"If you want to know who will ultimately pay in this scenario, just look in the mirror. Even as your home-insurance rates rise, so will your taxes. All of this will drive down property values, especially in the places most at-risk from climate disasters. And that will hurt muni finances even more."
Hageman has likened the growing wave of climate accountability lawsuits from U.S. communities to the successful lawsuits brought against Big Tobacco, calling the efforts βtobacco litigation on steroids.β
Big Oil's top lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute, has reported talking to members of Congress about draft legislation to stop state climate lawsuits.
What a coincidence that Rep. Harriet Hageman happens to be drafting legislation to do exactly that. π
The Supreme Court has decided to hear a major climate case against fossil fuel companies
Alito has not recused himself, despite owning nearly $200,000 in fossil fuel stocksβincluding in Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips, which are being sued in cases that would be directly affected by a SCOTUS ruling
"In fact, the fossil fuel industry has been trying to get out of climate liability for years ... The coordinated lobbying, legal intimidation, and PR campaign is all pointing to a single goal: chilling climate litigation."
@amywestervelt.bsky.social on Big Oil's long fight to escape accountabilityπ
The reason why Big Oil companies are lobbying Congress for legal immunity is the same reason why they petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their arguments for why they should not stand trial.
Big Oil really, really doesn't want juries to see the evidence of their lies and wrongdoing.
βBig Oilβs climate lies are the most consequential and harmful corporate deception campaign in history, and the communities paying the price for that deception deserve to put these companies on trial,β said CCI President Richard Wiles.
For the first time, the U.S. Supreme Court has taken up Exxonβs plea to weigh in on whether climate accountability lawsuits are preempted by federal law, writes @emdashsanders.bsky.social.
This is "no coincidence," says @thelisagraves.bsky.social, since the court is "captured" by "carbon cash."
SCOTUS has never taken up Big Oil's arguments to kill climate lawsuits before. What changed?
For one, Alito didn't recuse himself, despite big $$ ties to oil companies that are defendants in many similar cases that would most likely be affected by a ruling here. And despite recusing in the past.
ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy are fighting to escape accountability for their climate lies and the damage that they've caused.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will hear the companiesβ arguments for why they should not stand trial in one of a growing number of lawsuits against Big Oil.
βLocal communities are living with the mounting costs of climate change,β said @aaronbrockett12.bsky.social, mayor of Boulder. βThe supreme court should affirm Coloradoβs right to hold these companies accountable for the harm they have caused in Colorado.β
Another example of why our highest court shouldn't have the lowest ethics standards. As our @hannahstoryb.bsky.social has covered in @prospect.org, Justice Alito's extensive oil holdings should have propelled him to sit out from considering this case. And he's not the only justice with such ties.
β οΈ Justice Alito β who owns stock in oil companies facing similar climate deception suits β did NOT recuse himself, even though he recused from Boulder's case in 2023, an identical petition in Honolulu last year, and many other similar cases.
Why recuse in Boulder's case in '23 but not in '26?
βBig Oilβs climate lies are the most consequential and harmful corporate deception campaign in history, and the communities paying the price for that deception deserve to put these companies on trial.β
Our statement π
π¨ The U.S. Supreme Court has granted Exxon and Suncorβs request to review a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that allowed Boulderβs climate deception case against the companies to move toward trial.
Let's be clear: Communities paying the price for Big Oil's climate lies deserve their day in court.
Big Oil is lobbying Congress for total immunity from any laws or lawsuits that could hold the industry accountable for fueling the climate crisis and lying about it.
We canβt let that happen.
Two big attacks on climate accountability lawsuits made the news last week -- and both were pushed by the Republican Attorneys General Association.
Connecting the dots to some of RAGA's biggest funders: the same major oil industry players facing those lawsuits.
www.exxonknews.org/p/the-top-co...
Learn more about how Big Oil and the plastics industry have deceived the public and fueled the plastic waste crisis π
β[People in the plastics industry] are very happy for us to look at ourselves and at each other, and not look at them,β says @bethgardiner.bsky.social, author of "Plastic Inc: Big Oil, Big Money and the Plan to Trash our Future."
Hey, is it normally a sign that things are going well when you fire your lawyers?
Exxon has lost a growing # of rulings in the climate deception cases it faces β in CO, HI, MA, MN, VT, CT, etc.
Is that why they ditched their long time lawyers and the industry is lobbying Congress for immunity? π€
"The U.S. now experiences a billion-dollar disaster about every two weeks, on average." π©
As communities struggle to recover from increasingly devastating climate disasters, the Big Oil companies fueling them are making trillionsβand paying nothing. We can't afford to let Big Oil off the hook.
