Will Polluters Be Let Off the Hook for Climate Damages in the U.S.? Some states are passing laws to shield industrial polluters from climate liability – and a liability shield bill has just been introduced in Congress.

UT & TN have passed laws prohibiting climate liability, & Iowa is poised to become the next state to immunize polluters. Similar bills are moving in OK & LA

Now a federal immunity bill, the "Stop Climate Shakedowns Act", has emerged from Republicans in Congress

www.oneearthnow.org/p/will-pollu...

Rep. Hageman Introduces Bill To Shield American Energy Producers From Leftist Climate Litigation Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Harriet Hageman (R-WY) introduced the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026 to protect American energy from leftist legal crusades punishing lawful activity.

Utah is not alone in its move to shield polluters from climate accountability. Yesterday, a similar bill was signed into law in Tennessee.

And today, a federal immunity bill was introduced in Congress by Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman

hageman.house.gov/media/press-...

While Extreme Heat Bakes the US, Utah Moves to Protect the Fossil Fuel Industry A new law shields polluters from accountability for planet-warming emissions

Last month UT became the first state to enact a law prohibiting liability for GHG emissions & climate damages

As one UT enviro advocate told me, "The house is quite literally on fire, & we just extended immunity to the arsonists"

www.sierraclub.org/sierra/while...

Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas

Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought

- Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas

#AMOC #climatecrisis
Story by me

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Youths Who Sued Trump Over Orders to ‘Unleash’ Energy Try to Revive Case

Young plaintiffs w/ @youthvgov.bsky.social went to court Monday in a bid to revive their case against President Trump over his executive orders to 'unleash' American energy www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/c...

In a first for the U.S. grid, renewables generated more power than gas across a whole month.

Federal Appeals Court Dismisses Youth Climate Suit Alleging Discrimination By The EPA The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has quashed a climate lawsuit brought by 18 young people in California against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency alleging that the agency’s “discounting” policy unlawfully discriminates against children. In a ruling issued on April 9, the court affirmed a lower court’s

The 9th Circuit tossed out a youth constitutional climate suit alleging that EPA's "discounting" policy (used in regulatory analyses) is discriminatory

It comes as another youth climate case v. Trump is set to come before this same appeals court on Mon

www.climateinthecourts.com/federal-appe...

Farmers vs. Fossil Fuel Firms From Belgium to Pakistan to Vermont, small farmers are using legal tools to take on big fossil fuel polluters in a fight for climate justice.

Smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are deeply tied to the environment are on the frontlines of the climate emergency.

Now, some farmers are looking to the law in the hopes that it can be leveraged to make major carbon polluters pay for climate damages

www.oneearthnow.org/p/farmers-vs...

As Vermont Defends Its Law to Make Fossil Fuel Firms Pay for Climate Adaptation, the Bill Is Already Coming Due - Inside Climate News The courts will decide if the first “climate superfund” law in the nation survives, a likely years-long battle. Vermont towns, meanwhile, must figure out how to pay for infrastructure that extreme wea...

VT's "climate superfund" law to make #BigOil pay is facing its first real test - last week, a federal court heard arguments in legal challenges brought by the Trump admin, 24 GOP-led states & industry groups

More in my collab w/ @eisenwrites.bsky.social here

insideclimatenews.org/news/0504202...

The Latest Front in the Battle Over Climate Lawsuits: Bills Wiping Out Liability - Inside Climate News Republican lawmakers are advancing legislation that would shield major polluters from legal accountability for climate change harms.

I reported on this last month, & there's been significant developments since then (Utah's bill, for example, has been signed into law)

The backlash is definitely something to watch closely

insideclimatenews.org/news/1403202...

Excellent, important reporting illuminating the origins & coordinated nature of state legislation aiming to shield the fossil fuel industry from liability for climate damages

Farmers vs. Fossil Fuel Firms From Belgium to Pakistan to Vermont, small farmers are using legal tools to take on big fossil fuel polluters in a fight for climate justice.

Smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are deeply tied to the environment are on the frontlines of the climate emergency.

Now, some farmers are looking to the law in the hopes that it can be leveraged to make major carbon polluters pay for climate damages

www.oneearthnow.org/p/farmers-vs...

Affordability and Race Play a Major Role in Whether People Live in Nature-Deprived Areas A new report notes that access to nature is critical to human health and well-being

The burdens of nature loss are not distributed equally. Communities of color are 3 times more likely to live in nature-deprived areas, according to a report from @americanprogress.bsky.social

And this 'nature gap' is at risk of widening under the Trump admin

www.sierraclub.org/sierra/affor...

Vermont’s Landmark Climate Superfund Law is Headed to Court A federal district judge in Vermont is set to hear arguments in the first major court test of the first-in-the-nation polluter pays climate law.

Two years ago VT passed a groundbreaking law that would, for the first time, hold #BigOil financially accountable for damaging & costly climate impacts

Industry groups, 24 red states & Trump's DOJ sued over the law. Next week, a court will hear their challenge

www.oneearthnow.org/p/vermonts-l...

Maryland's Top Court Rules In Favor Of Oil Companies, Nixes Climate Tort Suits Maryland’s highest court on Tuesday affirmed dismissal of climate tort cases brought by the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis and Anne Arundel County against major oil and gas companies that sought to...

The ruling is a major setback for attempts by state & local governments to hold Big Oil liable for climate harms & alleged deception

But one justice on the court issued a blistering dissent, saying the majority "did not decide the case plaintiffs brought"

www.climateinthecourts.com/marylands-to...

Vermont’s Landmark Climate Superfund Law is Headed to Court A federal district judge in Vermont is set to hear arguments in the first major court test of the first-in-the-nation polluter pays climate law.

Two years ago VT passed a groundbreaking law that would, for the first time, hold #BigOil financially accountable for damaging & costly climate impacts

Industry groups, 24 red states & Trump's DOJ sued over the law. Next week, a court will hear their challenge

www.oneearthnow.org/p/vermonts-l...

Offshore wind’s cloudy day had a silver lining The country’s largest offshore wind farm started generating electricity Monday as another developer accepted nearly $1 billion to ditch two planned

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind - the largest offshore wind farm in the US - delivered its first power to the grid on Monday #offshorewind

www.eenews.net/articles/off...

Dozens of US States And Municipalities Sue EPA Over Its Elimination Of GHG Endangerment Finding Two dozen Democrat-led states along with over a dozen cities and counties filed a lawsuit on Thursday in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its head...

MA along w/ CA, CT & NY is leading a multi-state coalition challenging the Trump EPA's biggest climate action rollback - the repeal of the GHG endangerment finding

"The Trump EPA has ignored the law and ignored the science" says CT AG William Tong

www.climateinthecourts.com/dozens-of-us...

The Latest Front in the Battle Over Climate Lawsuits: Bills Wiping Out Liability - Inside Climate News Republican lawmakers are advancing legislation that would shield major polluters from legal accountability for climate change harms.

"Any scheme to let Big Oil mega-corporations off the hook would be an insult to the American people" said @whitehouse.senate.gov

And as @govjayinslee.bsky.social told me, "it’s an un-American effort to deny Americans the traditional right of access to a jury"

insideclimatenews.org/news/1403202...

The Latest Front in the Battle Over Climate Lawsuits: Bills Wiping Out Liability - Inside Climate News Republican lawmakers are advancing legislation that would shield major polluters from legal accountability for climate change harms.

ICYMI, legislation is advancing in multiple GOP-led states & Congress that would shield the fossil fuel industry from any liability for climate damages - even as these damages & costs mount & the industry is now seeing windfall profits 💰 🛢️

insideclimatenews.org/news/1403202...

Belgian Farmer Case Against TotalEnergies Is Admissible, Ruling On Merits Postponed A Belgian court has ruled that a climate accountability lawsuit brought by a smallholder farmer against French oil major TotalEnergies is admissible, a key procedural step forward for the plaintiff Hu...

A court in Tournai, Belgium 🇧🇪 decided today that it can handle a landmark climate case brought by a farmer against TotalEnergies

"The justice system has a role to play in holding those responsible for this crisis to account" said plaintiff Hugues Falys

www.climateinthecourts.com/belgian-farm...

‘Trump is aiming for dictatorship’. That’s the verdict of the world’s most credible democracy watchdog | Martin Gelin Sweden’s V-Dem Institute warns that the US is no longer a liberal democracy. And autocracy is creeping across Europe too, says writer Martin Gelin

In the US we are losing our democracy - seeing democratic backsliding and shift towards autocracy - at an unprecedented rate

In other countries, it took years to "accomplish the suppression of democratic institutions that Trump has achieved in only one year"

www.theguardian.com/world/commen...

The Winds of Clean Energy Keep Blowing A new Rhode Island offshore wind farm brings the country one step closer to a renewable energy future

South Fork -the first fully operational, commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the US - has been supplying clean power to grid since 2024. In Nov I joined a boat tour to see it up close

“[The turbines] look to me like a livable planet" said @roselund.bsky.social
www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2026-...

US Offshore Wind Projects Advance Amidst Iran War and Oil Market Disruption Projects hit key milestones despite President Trump’s war on wind, and at a time when Trump’s new Middle East war is a stark reminder of fossil fuel volatility.

In New England, two commercial-scale offshore wind farms reached important milestones on Friday at a time when the conflict in Iran is upending global energy markets and exposing once again the painful costs of fossil fuel dependency

More here #offshorewind

www.oneearthnow.org/p/us-offshor...

A World On Fire Needs More Climate Reporting — Not Less — Covering Climate Now The effects of a warming Earth are worsening. Climate disinformation is rampant. Wars around the world are pitting petrostates against one another. So why are much of the world’s media backsliding whe...

ICYMI, @coveringclimatenow.org asks "why are much of the world’s media backsliding when it comes to the coverage of climate change?"

There may be some explanations, but there are no excuses. Climate coverage is not an "afterthought" or "luxury" - it is vital

coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-stor...

US Offshore Wind Projects Advance Amidst Iran War and Oil Market Disruption Projects hit key milestones despite President Trump’s war on wind, and at a time when Trump’s new Middle East war is a stark reminder of fossil fuel volatility.

The 704 MW Revolution Wind has started to deliver power to the grid for the first time

Also late on Fri, workers completed the finishing touches on construction of Vineyard Wind - an 806 MW project

As the UN SG says, there are "no embargoes on the wind"

www.oneearthnow.org/p/us-offshor...

Revolution Wind Begins Delivering Power to New England Built by more than 1,000 local union workers, project expected to power 350,000+ homes with affordable, reliable electricity

BFD: Revolution Wind is delivering power!

If Rev Wind has the same capacity factor as South Fork Wind did in its first year (46.5%), it will generate 2.74 TWh of electricity annually, equivalent to 34% of power use in the state of #RhodeIsland! /1

#offshorewind

revolution-wind.com/news/2026/03...

The Latest Front in the Battle Over Climate Lawsuits: Bills Wiping Out Liability - Inside Climate News Republican lawmakers are advancing legislation that would shield major polluters from legal accountability for climate change harms.

Republican lawmakers in multiple states & Congress are advancing proposals to shield polluters from climate accountability & prevent any type of liability for climate change harms

At the state level, liability shield bills are moving in OK, UT, IA, LA & TN 👀

insideclimatenews.org/news/1403202...

Trump policies set to increase rates of lung disease and death, study finds Experts warn of ‘attack on Americans’ lungs’ from cuts to health programs, environmental rollbacks and other plans

Trump policies set to increase rates of lung disease and death, study finds

it took just over a year to get from "I'll lower costs on day one" to "I'm raising prices and it's good, actually"