{"id":42799,"date":"2026-04-06T11:22:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=42799"},"modified":"2026-04-06T11:22:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:22:34","slug":"a-surrender-to-special-interests-alarm-as-utah-shields-fossil-fuel-companies-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=42799","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A surrender to special interests\u2019: alarm as Utah shields fossil-fuel companies | Fossil fuels"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Utah has made it nearly impossible for residents to hold fossil fuel companies legally accountable for climate damages in a move one advocacy group described as putting \u201cprofits for the biggest polluters over communities\u201d, with other states expected to follow suit.<\/p>\n

The new state legislation comes as part of a push from big oil and its political allies \u2013 including groups tied to rightwing impresario Leonard Leo \u2013 for legal immunity in red statehouses and Congress, with a goal of winning state and federal legal immunity similar to the liability waiver granted to the firearms industry<\/a> in 2005.<\/p>\n

Such policies would shield major fossil fuel companies from a wave of litigation they are facing from states, subnational governments, and individuals who claim the firms knew their products would cause climate damages, but sold them to the public anyway. Four other red states are considering laws similar to Utah\u2019s \u2013 with two close to passage \u2013 and federal legislation is seemingly in the works.<\/p>\n

Signed into law by the state\u2019s Republican governor Spencer Cox late last month, Utah\u2019s new legislation shields any person or entity from civil or criminal liabilities related to planet-warming emissions, unless a court finds that the defendant violated the specific \u201cenforceable limitation\u201d on a greenhouse gas or the \u201cexpress terms of a valid permit\u201d.<\/p>\n

Challengers would also have to provide \u201cclear and convincing evidence that unavoidable and identifiable damage or injury has resulted or will result as a direct cause of the\u201d violation. The language will make it virtually impossible to successfully sue polluters for climate damages, critics say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a surrender to wealthy special interests and an affront to the public good,\u201d said Delta Merner, lead scientist at the science hub for climate litigation at the science advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists. \u201cUtah\u2019s new law prioritizes profits for the biggest polluters over communities already suffering from climate impacts and constituents should be outraged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Set to be enacted next month, Utah\u2019s HB 222 was sponsored by Republican representative Carl Albrecht, who has received <\/strong>some funding<\/a> from oil and gas interests. He was also formerly the CEO of a rural electric cooperative.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>An oil refinery lit up in pre-dawn twilight near Salt Lake City.<\/span> Photograph: VW Pics\/Universal Images Group\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThat cooperative is substantially powered by fossil fuels,\u201d said Democratic Utah state senator Nate Blouin, who opposed the bill, which he said passed quickly and without much discussion. \u201cHe\u2019s got a history in the industry, and continues to draw from that experience to push bills like this forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albrecht did not respond to a request for comment, but told Bloomberg Law<\/a> that the policy aims to halt \u201cfrivolous\u201d legal challenges from environmental groups and to protect the state\u2019s coal-fired power plants. He also said industry trade groups gave him the idea for the proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo understand this bill you need to follow the coordination,\u201d said Merner, noting that the Utah legislation closely mirrors a model policy<\/a> called the Energy Freedom Act, circulated by conservative group Consumers Defense.<\/p>\n

Consumers Defense has financial<\/a> ties to a group linked to<\/a> Leo, the architect of the far-right takeover of the supreme court<\/a> who helped select Trump\u2019s supreme court nominees. In recent years, groups tied to Leo have launched an unprecedented campaign to thwart climate accountability litigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Asked about Leo\u2019s involvement in the model legislation, Will Hild, president of Consumers Defense, said it is not attributable to \u201cany individual figure\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Energy<\/a> Freedom Act is intended to clarify that carbon emissions should not automatically carry legal damages and to push back on efforts \u2026 to shape national climate policy through litigation rather than through elected lawmakers,\u201d he said. \u201cThis ensures decisions remain with accountable representatives, prevents a small number of states from imposing their policies nationwide through judicial fiat, and protects consumers from economically disruptive policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leo\u2019s group CRC Advisors did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers in Louisiana<\/a> and Oklahoma<\/a> are considering similar legislation, and the state legislatures of Iowa<\/a> and Tennessee<\/a> have voted to pass climate liability-limiting legislation, though neither has yet been signed into law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Tennessee they literally called the bill the Tennessee Energy Freedom Act,\u201d said Iyla Shornstein, political director at the Center for Climate Integrity, which tracks and supports climate accountability litigation. \u201cIt\u2019s a direct borrowing from the Consumers Defense language.\u201d<\/p>\n

A national push for immunity<\/h2>\n

The Utah bill\u2019s passage comes as climate lawsuits against big oil companies inch closer to trial, and as states adopt climate accountability legislation.<\/p>\n

In recent years, 70 cities, states, and individuals have sued energy majors for allegedly deceiving the public about the climate crisis. New York and Vermont have also passed climate \u201csuperfund\u201d laws<\/a> requiring major polluters to pay for damages caused by their past planet-heating pollution, with other states considering similar policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe oil companies clearly see these as an existential threat to their business model,\u201d said Shornstein. \u201cTheir lobbying makes that clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the top US oil lobby group the American Petroleum Institute (API) said one of its top priorities for 2026 will be blocking \u201cabusive\u201d climate lawsuits<\/a> targeting big oil. Months earlier, 16 Republican state attorneys general also called on the justice department<\/a> to provide a \u201cliability shield\u201d for oil companies.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers have also pursued narrower efforts, including a failed attempt to block Washington DC from the deployment of some legal theories against oil companies, and a 2025 Maryland bill that would have barred state and local climate lawsuits but never reached a vote. And last year, both API and energy giant ConocoPhillips also pressed<\/a> Congress on draft legislation to limit climate liability.<\/p>\n

Such a federal policy appears to be in the works: during a House committee hearing<\/a> last month, Wyoming representative Harriet Hageman, a Republican, said \u201cCongress has a role to play\u201d in defeating climate accountability lawsuits.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo that end, I\u2019m working with my colleagues in both the House and Senate to craft legislation tackling both these state laws and the lawsuits that could destroy energy affordability for consumers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hageman did not provide specific details about the legislation. She did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The API declined to comment on the state of a federal liability waiver proposal.<\/p>\n

Other industries have lobbied for liability waivers before. Since the firearms sector successfully pushed for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in 2005, \u201cnot a single negligence case against a gun manufacturer has gone to trial\u201d, noted Merner.<\/p>\n

The pesticide sector is also currently pursuing state-level immunity bills, while its allies have unsuccessfully pursued a federal waiver<\/a>. And the tobacco industry, facing widespread litigation, also pushed for such immunity in the 1990s but failed, ending up paying $260bn in settlements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems that the fossil fuel industry has learned from these precedents. If they can secure blanket immunity now, they can avoid the fate of tobacco, but if they fail, they face tobacco-level accountability,\u201d said Merner.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers, advocates, and journalists have amassed mountains of evidence<\/a> in recent years that oil companies intentionally covered up the climate harms of their products. Climate science, meanwhile, continues to warn that fossil fuels are the primary cause of dangerous global warming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see why industry would be pushing for immunity if they thought they could win on the merits of their case,\u201d said Merner. \u201cThe evidence shows they knew about climate risks for decades and lied about it, so they\u2019re trying to change the rules of the game entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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