Press Releases
May 4, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sixty members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Representative Jamie Raskin (Maryland), today sent a letter urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy “to categorically oppose any attempt to confer immunity on the fossil fuel industry or to limit its liability for the damages it causes to people or property” in the next COVID-19 relief package.
The letter explains that a draft of a previous COVID-19 relief package included immunity from lawsuits for fossil fuel companies, but the language was ultimately removed before passage.
More than a dozen city, county, and state governments across the country — including the cities of Baltimore and Honolulu; the counties of King, Washington, and Boulder, Colorado, and the state of Rhode Island — have sued fossil fuel companies in recent years to recover billions of dollars in damages resulting from climate change the companies knew their products would cause.
Richard Wiles, executive director of the Center for Climate Integrity, one of groups to endorse the letter, released the following statement:
“Cities and states are being driven to financial ruin by the pandemic. Now more than ever, Congress must not give oil executives a get-out-of-jail free card for the billions in damages they caused by lying about climate change for decades.
“The fossil fuel industry has shamelessly used the pandemic to gut hard-won environmental and health protections. It is naive to think they will not try to kill lawsuits seeking to hold them accountable for the billions in climate damages that their decades of lying has inflicted on communities across the country.
“In the face of our ongoing public health and financial crisis, Congress must protect the right of communities to hold Big Oil accountable through the courts. We applaud the members who have signed this letter and urge them to continue fighting for the rights of people, not polluters.”
The letter is co-signed by the following House Members: Jamie Raskin, Nanette Diaz Barragán, Donald S. Beyer Jr., Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, Julia Brownley, André Carson, Kathy Castor, David N. Cicilline, Yvette D. Clarke, Steve Cohen, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Gerald E. Connolly, Diana DeGette, Lloyd Doggett, Veronica Escobar, Anna G. Eshoo, Adriano Espaillat, Bill Foster, Jesús G. "Chuy" García, Jimmy Gomez, Raúl M. Grijalva, Deb Haaland, Alcee L. Hastings, Jared Huffman, Jahana Hayes, Pramila Jayapal, Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr., William R. Keating, Joseph P. Kennedy, III, Ro Khanna, Barbara Lee, Andy Levin, Mike Levin, Alan Lowenthal, Stephen F. Lynch, A. Donald McEachin, James P. McGovern, Grace Meng, Gwen S. Moore, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Grace F. Napolitano, Joe Neguse, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Pocan, Katie Porter, Ayanna Pressley, Mike Quigley, Jan Schakowsky, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, José E. Serrano, Donna E. Shalala, Darren Soto, Mark Takano, Rashida Tlaib, Lori Trahan, Nydia M. Velázquez, Juan Vargas, and Peter Welch.
Read the letter to House leaders here.
The letter was endorsed by the following organizations: The Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), Sierra Club, National Resource Defense Council (NRDC), 350.org, Earthjustice, Environmental Working Group, Greenpeace, Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), American Association for Justice (AAJ), Food & Water Watch, Food & Water Action, Oxfam America, Union of Concerned Scientists, Oil Change International, Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen, VOICES (Victory over InFRACKstructure, Clean Energy Instead), Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network International (WECAN International), Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Climate Hawks Vote, Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), Sustainable Energy & Economy Network, Center for Sustainable Economy, EarthRights International, Rachel Carson Council (RCC), Corporate Accountability, Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.