@propublica.org found the state bills are "part of a coordinated effort orchestrated by a constellation of groups," tied "to the prominent conservative activist Leonard Leo."
The groups "engaged a well-connected lobbying firm to get [the bills] signed into law.”
The bill comes days after Tennessee became the second state to pass a law granting legal immunity to the fossil fuel industry for climate-related harms caused by heat-trapping emissions, as well as for misleading or deceptive statements related to emissions.
Rep Hageman & Sen Cruz introduced legislation to grant legal immunity to the fossil fuel industry.
@kathymulvey.bsky.social says this championing "of the world’s largest polluters shows how far certain elected officials will go to undermine democratic policymaking."
You make a mess, you clean it up, right? The fossil fuel industry thinks that rule shouldn't apply to them.
Now, federal lawmakers introduced legislation to block communities pursuing accountability for the climate deception and damages fossil fuel products have caused. 🧵⬇️
#MakePollutersPay
Mulvey called on Congress to “not capitulate to wealthy special interests. Communities deserve the right to hold polluters accountable for the deadly and costly harms they are causing.”
#ClimateAccountability #MakePollutersPay
“No company should be above the law, especially those that planned, funded & continue to engage in a coordinated decades-long campaign to protect their profits by deceiving the public and blocking climate action." - UCS Climate Accountability Campaign Director Kathy Mulvey @kathymulvey.bsky.social
Big Oil companies "want to deny Americans their rightful day in court and stick taxpayers with the bill for the mess they made."
"If fossil fuel companies have done nothing wrong, why do they need immunity?”
"No company should be above the law, especially those that planned, funded, and continue to engage in a coordinated decades-long campaign to protect their profits by deceiving the public and blocking climate action."
Tell Congress: No immunity for Big Oil!
#ClimateAccountability #MakePollutersPay
Today Rep. Hageman introduced a bill seeking to grant sweeping immunity to the fossil fuel industry against legal and financial accountability for climate change damages. This disastrous bill "would twist the knife of the climate crisis that is already directly harming people across the country."
Alert for lawmakers in DC, where temperatures will hit 93 on Wednesday: We can slow the worsening of extreme heat over the coming decades if we sharply reduce heat-trapping emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
The heat lasting through the week will be especially difficult since people aren’t acclimated to such high temps so early in the year. Here’s the heat index forecast for Friday ⬇️
(Graphic from www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/heat_index_M...)
April temperatures that you would expect in June follow the hottest March on record for the contiguous US that saw an extreme heatwave across a large swath of the country—with temperature highs nearly impossible without human-caused climate change.
Early spring is feeling a lot like summer with unseasonable heat blanketing much of the Eastern US this week. Dozens of cities from DC to Atlanta are forecast to break their daily high temperature records on Wednesday. 🧵👇
(National Temperature graphic: www.weather.gov/forecastmaps/)
If Big Oil were given total legal immunity, "it would be an injustice with lasting and cascading harm," writes @cadavejones.bsky.social.
"The public would keep paying for the costs of climate change, while the fossil fuel companies most responsible for them would continue to pay nothing."
"Putting any industry above the law—esp one responsible for creating many of the GHG emissions that have helped fuel climate-related destruction of homes, businesses & whole communities—would be beyond dangerous. If #BigOil gets its wish, it would be an injustice with lasting & cascading harm."
"Whether people rent, buy, or seek shelter from the streets every night, all families deserve safe and affordable housing, and those homes must be able to literally weather the storms ahead."
How can you know who to trust and how to prepare when it comes to extreme weather?
Join fellow survivors and trusted experts like @zoyamiddleton.bsky.social and
@rothschildmd.bsky.social as we break down the science of extreme weather and get your ?s answered.
RSVP at bit.ly/survivorsforchange
Trifold poster sits on a table. The title reads "Who's responsible for climate change?" The Union of Concerned Scientists logo is in the upper left corner. Below the title are three text boxes superimposed over an image of a fire burning a building. Below the text boxes is a timeline. In front of the poster sits a collection of several books and handouts. Visible are "The Climate Book" by Greta Thunberg, "The Serviceberry" by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and "Miseducation" by Katie Worth.
New @ucs.org public library displays for Earth Month 🌎highlighting the outsized role of fossil fuels companies in causing the climate crisis, and the need for #ClimateAccountability
Check out the poster and recommended reading list for adults & kids: www.ucs.org/resources/in...
According to the Climate Prediction Center, there's about a 40% chance of a "strong" or "very strong" El Nino at the end of this year...
For humans’ ~300k year history, we have existed in a climate where carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere were between 180 and 280ppm. 1200ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere would be devastating for not only the Earth’s climate system, but for human civilization.
Let’s not be fooled, problems raised by local leaders during Mullin’s 1st official trip to NC, including a backlog of disaster aid & funding bottlenecks, are the Trump admin’s own doing given Noem’s disruptive $100k review requirement & Trump’s politicization of disaster declarations. bit.ly/4vi4nJv
7. We can slow the worsening of extreme heat over the coming decades if we sharply reduce heat-trapping emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
6. To make matters worse, the Trump administration announced disruptive changes to the US Forest Service, which could leave the nation less prepared and at greater risk from wildland fires, as part of its ongoing assault on science amid growing climate threats.
5. Heat, together with low snowpack and early snowmelt, are linked to more severe and prolonged wildfire seasons. Already, over 1.6 million acres burned across the country by the end of March, 231% of the previous 10-year average.
4. A third of the country is now in severe or extreme drought and 60 percent of the country is in some stage of drought.
3. The hot, dry conditions in March spurred rapid melt of an already low snowpack across the western US, posing risks to reliable water supplies and setting the stage for expanding drought conditions and a dangerous wildfire season.
2. An extreme, unprecedented, early-season heatwave in March was a major reason for the historically hot month, with dozens of cities from Oklahoma City to San Francisco smashing temperature records.
1. Last month was the hottest March on record for the contiguous US with alarmingly high temperatures across a large swath of the country that would have been nearly impossible without human-caused climate change.
Trifold poster sits on a table. The title reads "Who's responsible for climate change?" The Union of Concerned Scientists logo is in the upper left corner. Below the title are three text boxes superimposed over an image of a fire burning a building. Below the text boxes is a timeline. In front of the poster sits a collection of several books and handouts. Visible are "The Climate Book" by Greta Thunberg, "The Serviceberry" by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and "Miseducation" by Katie Worth.
New @ucs.org public library displays for Earth Month 🌎highlighting the outsized role of fossil fuels companies in causing the climate crisis, and the need for #ClimateAccountability
Check out the poster and recommended reading list for adults & kids: www.ucs.org/resources/in...
