News & Analysis
April 21, 2026
After months of fossil fuel industry lobbying, Republican lawmakers have introduced sweeping legislation that would shield Big Oil companies from attempts to hold them accountable for their role in the climate crisis. The legislation comes as oil and gas companies are facing dozens of climate accountability lawsuits from communities across the country over their decades of deception about the harms of their products. Many cases are heading toward discovery and trial after courts rejected Big Oil’s efforts to stop them.
“Big Oil companies have raked in massive profits at the pump while lying to the American people about the catastrophic harm of their products, and now they want to deny Americans their rightful day in court and stick taxpayers with the bill for the mess they made,” CCI President Richard Wiles said. “If fossil fuel companies have done nothing wrong, why do they need immunity?”
U.S. Representative Harriet Hageman (R-WY) and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced bills in the House and Senate, respectively, that would give the oil industry sweeping legal immunity from laws and lawsuits that aim to hold the industry accountable for its role in the climate crisis. The bills seek to:
If passed, the bill would leave everyday Americans on the hook for all of the costs of climate change. The Senate bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Ted Budd (R-NC), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Mike Lee (R-UT). The House bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Pete Stauber (R-MN), Barry Moore (R-AL), and Mike Collins (R-GA).
The proposals were immediately cheered by major lobbying groups for the fossil fuel industry, which have been urging the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans to shield oil companies from legal and financial liability for their role in the climate crisis. In February, when Hageman and Cruz first indicated that they were interested in introducing legislation to shield the oil industry, the lawmakers told E&E News that they had not heard from oil companies or industry groups about the issue. But the American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers CEO Chet Thompson thanked Hageman and Cruz for the legislation in a joint statement shared in a press release from Hageman’s office, calling efforts to hold the industry accountable for its role in the climate crisis “misguided and counterproductive.”
The American Petroleum Institute stated at the beginning of the year that killing climate liability efforts is one of their top priorities in 2026. Last year, Big Oil CEOs urged President Trump to help them combat the lawsuits, and 16 Republican attorneys general called for a “liability shield” for Big Oil modeled after the 2005 law protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits. Lawmakers in several states have also introduced state-level legal shields for fossil fuel companies modeled off of draft legislation from a pro-fossil fuel group. Utah — the home state of senate bill co-sponsor Mike Lee — was the first state to pass a state law giving broad legal immunity to corporations that cause climate harms, making it nearly impossible to hold climate polluters accountable in Utah. Recent reporting from ProPublica found the wave of state bills are "part of a coordinated effort by groups linked to right-wing activist Leonard Leo."
"This bill would slam the door on holding fossil fuel polluters accountable and shift the burden onto New Yorkers," Minority Senate leader Chuck Schumer (D- N.Y.) said in a statement to Newsday about the federal legislation. "Polluters should pay for the climate damage they caused, not taxpayers."
Just last month, former Washington Governor Jay Inslee briefed members of Congress about the oil industry’s push for a legal shield.
“Every elected official who cares about the interests of their constituents more than those of corporate polluters should oppose this disgraceful proposal,” Inslee said about the latest legislation. “Juries are a fundamental bastion of democracy, and it’s beyond dangerous to allow powerful and wealthy corporations to shield themselves from ever having to face jurors’ judgment.”
