A coalition of environmental groups is urging congressional Democrats to fight any potential efforts by the oil and gas industry to immunize itself against climate change lawsuits.
In a letter to the House and Senate minority leaders, 195 groups say they’re worried oil and gas companies will use President Donald Trump’s embrace of the industry to revive language to shield fossil fuel companies from a slew of lawsuits that seek compensation for rising tides and worsening storms.
“We have reason to believe that the fossil fuel industry and its allies will use the chaos and overreach of the new Trump administration to attempt yet again to pass some form of liability waiver and shield themselves from facing consequences for their decades of pollution and deception,” the groups, including the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, wrote in the letter. “That effort — no matter what form it takes — must not be allowed to succeed.”
Several industry groups declined comment, but Tom Pyle, president of the conservative think tank Institute for Energy Research and a member of Trump’s 2020 Department of Energy landing team, called the groups’ concern “complete and total paranoia.” Pyle said the letter was “pure fiction” and a “little more than a publicity stunt.”
