Democrats have renewed calls for major conspiracy lawsuits to be filed against oil and gas companies, and accused the industry’s executives of essentially buying a financial and deregulatory windfall by donating generously to President Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign.
The legal action was recommended in a new report released Thursday by Senate Democrats that said Big Oil campaign donations were rewarded with subsidies, jobs for industry allies in the administration and a series of major environmental rollbacks, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s gutting this year of federal greenhouse gas emissions standards.
The findings come just days before the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on a key preemption question that could determine the fate of dozens of lawsuits filed by states and municipalities that are seeking billions of dollars in damages from fossil fuel companies. The lawsuits broadly claim the oil and gas industry intentionally misled the public about climate risks associated with using their products.
“Our new report exposes this old-fashioned corruption, by a thuggish government and a desperate industry, that is squeezing every last dollar out of Americans’ pocketbooks while they still can,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee.
Democrats renew call for Big Oil racketeering case
Whitehouse, who has led over 30 investigations into Trump environmental rollbacks at the EPA and other agencies, has repeatedly encouraged federal cases against Big Oil. He previously told Landmark in an interview that prior investigations uncovered “ample predication for [the Justice Department] to launch a fraud investigation into the fossil fuel industry’s decades-long campaign of disinformation and doublespeak.”
There are multiple legal theories the DOJ could pursue, including racketeering cases named explicitly by the new Senate report, or antitrust charges. Racketeering cases have also been recommended by Sharon Eubanks, the former DOJ attorney who led the case against Big Tobacco.
“The DOJ victory against Big Tobacco, which forced the industry to stop lying and make corrective statements about its past lying, provides a model for a case against Big Oil,” Whitehouse told Landmark previously. “Just like Big Tobacco, Big Oil built an enormous covert apparatus to dispense lies, propaganda, fake science, and political pressure, at enormous cost to public health and safety.”
Upcoming Supreme Court oral arguments and potential immunity
Climate damages litigation has already been filed by dozens of state and local governments alleging violations of state nuisance and consumer protection laws. The Supreme Court is due to hear oral arguments on Oct. 5 on whether those state law claims are preempted by federal law.
If preempted, the cases will likely be dismissed. If allowed to proceed, the oil and gas industry could end up on the hook for billions in damages alleged by the states and municipalities that have argued climate change is increasing their need for costly investments in flood and wildfire mitigation, as well as public health response.
The new Senate report pegged public health damages from fossil fuel air pollution at about $820 billion annually.
Republicans have meanwhile proposed bills to grant fossil fuel companies immunity from liability related to emissions, with the backing of the American Petroleum Institute and other industry groups. Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming has championed that effort in the House to create a shield similar to legislation that protects gun manufacturers from civil liability lawsuits.
“Energy security is national security, and we will not self-sabotage our critical industries with a cascade of costly lawsuits and extreme penalties that jeopardize American drilling,” Hageman said when introducing the bill this year. “America’s energy producers should be protected from the dangerous legal precedent that would be set by the retroactive punishment of lawful activity.”
The new report from Senate Democrats said the immunity effort “runs parallel to industry arguments before the Supreme Court” and said Congress should reject immunity bills.
Troubles for state laws to hold oil and gas firms accountable
The oil and gas industry is also fighting off threats in Vermont and New York, where lawmakers have passed so-called climate change Superfund laws that establish strict liability for major energy companies. In other words, the states could use the laws to collect billions from oil and gas companies for harms related to past emissions, even if the companies did not act negligently.
Those laws have been challenged in court by the fossil fuel industry, as well as the Trump administration.
On Wednesday, the federal judge overseeing a challenge to New York’s law granted summary judgment to the Trump administration after finding the law violates the U.S. Constitution. Judge P. Kevin Castel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, agreed with the DOJ that the law infringes on the federal government’s sovereign authority to create laws regulating greenhouse gas emissions and could obstruct the federal government’s ability to promote foreign affairs.
A judge appointed by former President Barack Obama, Brenda Sannes, came to a similar conclusion last month in a case brought by 22 states led by Republican attorneys general and businesses. She entered judgment on that order on Thursday.
Litigation is also pending against Vermont’s law, and other states are considering Superfund bills.