ExxonKnews
February 19, 2026
Earlier this month, after a group of 27 Republican attorneys general objected to a new climate chapter in a scientific reference manual for judges, the federal agency responsible for publishing it decided to remove the chapter entirely.
The decision came as oil and gas companies face a growing number of lawsuits accusing them of deceiving the public about climate change, which could result in billions of dollars in liability for the industry. Without the chapter, federal judges ruling on those and other cases will have no official guidance on how to evaluate climate attribution science, which is used to link extreme weather events to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions to specific polluters.
That wasn’t the only attack on climate lawsuits to make the news last week: a U.S. House representative announced that she’s drafting legislation to shield oil companies from such cases entirely. Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) told E&E that her legislation will serve as “a form of preemption” to stop climate lawsuits.
