They Said the Quiet Part Out Loud
Yes, Big Oil wants immunity. Yes, Republican attorneys general are asking for it. And yes, Ted Cruz just gave them a platform.
Yesterday, Senator Ted Cruz turned a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing into a showcase for Big Oil’s most far-fetched talking points, complete with conspiracy theories about China, accusations of judicial “brainwashing,” and even a Hillary Clinton reference. But beyond the noise, the real headline is that as dozens of states and cities move closer than ever to putting Big Oil on trial for its decades of climate lies, fossil fuel allies are openly asking Congress to give oil companies legal immunity.
The immunity push is real
Earlier this month, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and 15 other GOP attorneys general sent a letter to Trump’s DOJ, urging it to support legislation that would block states from suing fossil fuel companies. Their wish list includes creating a liability shield modeled on the 2005 law that gave broad legal protections to gun manufacturers (PLCAA), a law that many survivors of gun violence say robbed them of their right to be heard in court.
During the hearing, Kobach doubled down, testifying that he supports federal preemption, a sweeping legal maneuver that would wipe out state-level lawsuits and climate superfund laws. He admitted under questioning from Sen. Richard Blumenthal that he wasn’t even claiming the lawsuits were meritless. Instead, his concern was simply that they’re working.
Blumenthal, who helped sue Big Tobacco in the 1990s, called out the hypocrisy directly. He compared Kobach’s reasoning to what the tobacco industry once argued: that the problem wasn’t deception by corporations, instead it was people making “individual choices.” As Blumenthal said, you could take Kobach’s argument and “substitute ‘tobacco,’ and they would be identical.”
Conspiracies and contradictions
Then came Cruz. According to the Texas senator, climate lawsuits are part of a “full-spectrum assault” orchestrated by China, environmental groups, and radical left-wing donors. He alleged, without evidence, that “foreign money from entities tied to the Chinese Communist Party” is funding litigation in U.S. courts.
The irony? While railing against alleged “lawfare,” Cruz and his allies are asking for a federal intervention that would wipe out long-standing state rights, overturn traditional tort law, and shut down local lawsuits. In other words: an unprecedented, top-down legal shield for one of the most powerful industries on Earth.
As Senator Sheldon Whitehouse put it: “Americans would be more interested in tackling ‘climate-flation’ than in unspooling yet another conspiracy theory from the fossil-fuel-funded fertile swamp of Republican fever dreams.”
What this is really about
More than 40 lawsuits are now underway across the U.S., with cities, counties, and states trying to make polluters pay for the climate harms they caused and covered up. These cases are backed by state law, legal precedent, and mountains of evidence. And they’re getting close to trial.
That’s what makes them dangerous. The fossil fuel industry is terrified of real discovery, cross-examination, and jury verdicts. So now, their allies are pushing Congress to bail them out with legislation that would grant them blanket immunity before the first verdict can even be delivered.
The stakes
It would all be funny if it weren’t so serious. The hearing’s actual title? “Enter the Dragon—China and the Left’s Lawfare Against American Energy Dominance.” No, really. That’s what the U.S. Senate called a hearing about whether fossil fuel companies should be granted sweeping immunity from lawsuits.
Thankfully, not everyone came to play make-believe. David Arkush, testifying on behalf of Public Citizen, grounded the hearing in reality, reminding the room that while Cruz and Big Oil allies traded conspiracy theories, it was over 100 degrees in D.C., and families across the country were under extreme heat warnings.
That’s what this is about. Not China. Not Hillary. Not whatever new theory Cruz and his allies float next. It’s about whether powerful corporations that knowingly caused a crisis should be allowed to dodge responsibility with help from the politicians they fund.
Big Oil wants immunity. Their allies are asking for it out loud. And the fight to stop them is underway.
Join us. Add your name to demand Congress reject any attempt to give fossil fuel companies a free pass.
→ Sign the petition: https://makepolluterspay.net/take-action/
Transcending oil and gas.