{"id":458849,"date":"2026-07-29T09:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T16:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=458849"},"modified":"2026-07-29T10:13:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:13:23","slug":"climate-lawfare-comes-for-american-energy-and-your-wallet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=458849","title":{"rendered":"Climate lawfare comes for American energy and your wallet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Frank Lasee<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a quiet, coordinated campaign underway to reshape American energy policy. It is being waged not by voters or their elected representatives, but by a small network of activist lawyers, blue-state officials, and anonymous donors. They have figured out that what they cannot win at the ballot box, they might extract from a courtroom. And it is costing you already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vehicle is climate litigation. Across the country, about 40 nearly identical lawsuits<\/a> have been filed by states, counties, and cities demanding that oil and gas companies pay billions of dollars<\/a> for their alleged role in climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eleven states, the District of Columbia, and dozens of local governments have signed on. And behind a striking number of them is the same California firm. Sher Edling is filing copy-and-paste complaints on a contingency-fee basis, meaning the lawyers get paid only if the money flows, and then take a healthy cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who bankrolls this? Congressional investigators have documented millions in \u201cdark money\u201d<\/a> that Sher Edling reportedly received \u2014 roughly $3 million routed through the Collective Action Fund and the New Venture Fund. They are pass-through vehicles that are not required to disclose their donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Activists, funders, and government prosecutors have even convened off the record to coordinate strategy. This is not grassroots justice. It is a professionally financed campaign<\/a> to make national policy through friendly local courts, one jurisdiction at a time, accountable to no electorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word lawfare means using litigation as a weapon to achieve a political end that could not survive an honest, open debate. And the genius of it, from the activists\u2019 point of view, is that the public pays either way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Producing and selling gasoline, diesel, and natural gas is entirely legal; it is what keeps America moving, warm, and lit. But every dollar a producer is forced to surrender, and every dollar spent defending against these suits, gets folded into the price the rest of us pay at the pump and on our utility bills. It is a tax on energy that no legislature enacted and no voter approved, collected through the back door of a courthouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that the tide may be turning. The Supreme Court agreed this year to hear the Boulder, Colorado, case, which squarely tests whether a single county\u2019s courtroom can set energy policy for the entire country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

States are no longer waiting. This spring alone<\/a>, Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Iowa passed laws barring these speculative climate-damage claims from their courts. Oklahoma\u2019s is fittingly titled the Energy Security and Independence Act.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Congress, Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming has introduced the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act<\/a>, which would end retroactive climate-liability suits and reaffirm that emissions policy belongs to accountable federal lawmakers, not roving trial lawyers. These are policies made in daylight by people who voters can hire and fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here is the part the litigation industry would rather you not dwell on, even on its own terms: this crusade is pointless. Suppose every one of these lawsuits succeeded and American energy grew more expensive. What would it accomplish for the global climate? Almost nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China now emits more greenhouse gases<\/a>than all developed nations on Earth combined, and emissions from India and the rest of the developing world keep climbing<\/a>. The United States could hobble its own producers, raise its own families\u2019 bills, and weaken its own energy independence, and the global emissions curve would barely flicker, because the growth is happening on other continents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real cost of climate lawfare could be billions paid by all of us. It does not cool the planet. It makes American energy scarcer and pricier; it enriches a handful of lawyers and the shadowy funds behind them, and it transfers power from voters to litigators and judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worse, it does all this at the exact moment we should be pursuing energy dominance. By outproducing our rivals, keeping costs low for working families, and refusing to hand an adversary like China a strategic advantage, we volunteered to give it away. Through no choice of ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Americans deserve energy that is affordable, abundant, and reliable, and they deserve to decide their energy future at the ballot box, not through a lawsuit. The courts were never meant to be a policy-laundering service for interests that lost the argument everywhere else. It is time to say so and to shut the racket down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared at The Washington Examiner<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a quiet, coordinated campaign underway to reshape American energy policy. It is being waged not by voters or their elected representatives, but by a small network of activist lawyers, blue-state officials, and anonymous donors. They have figured out that what they cannot win at the ballot box, they might extract from a courtroom. And it is costing you already.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":458851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"There is a quiet, coordinated campaign underway to reshape American energy policy. It is being waged not by voters or their elected representatives, but by a small network of activist lawyers, blue-state officials, and anonymous donors. They have figured out that what they cannot win at the ballot box, they might extract from a courtroom. And it is costing you already.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691844324,691818056,691829604,691841313,691819142,691844325,691833762],"class_list":["post-458849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dark-money-2","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-lawsuits","tag-climate-litigation","tag-energy-policy","tag-energy-security-and-independence-act","tag-global-emissions","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1VmN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":350264,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=350264","url_meta":{"origin":458849,"position":0},"title":"A Kamala Victory Means Green New Deal Lawfare","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/06\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Expect Kamala Harris\u2019 Justice Department to wage Green New Deal lawfare if she is elected president on Nov. 5.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate Policy\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate Policy","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-policy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0senator-kamala-harris-kavanaugh-hearings.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0senator-kamala-harris-kavanaugh-hearings.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0senator-kamala-harris-kavanaugh-hearings.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0senator-kamala-harris-kavanaugh-hearings.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":437531,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=437531","url_meta":{"origin":458849,"position":1},"title":"Environmentalists are fighting our living standards in court","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/06\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Environmental groups and climate-obsessed local governments are waging aggressive climate lawfare across America \u2014 using lawsuits to bypass Congress, the U.N.\u2019s stalled global schemes, Trump administration policies, and Supreme Court rulings. They are determined to impose their anti-fossil-fuel agenda on the rest of us and hammer our living standards.","rel":"","context":"In \"\u201cexistential threat\u201d\"","block_context":{"text":"\u201cexistential threat\u201d","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=existential-threat-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AQM0SspDECHjjNqF5UQrL7NonKoWyKhxNrtMZnqDVMBQRa3Wf4WcOHCwJ_kmphwXgEBOlA0_j1kZ-gPAOtMwrrg7rEY1Vejvcd9pxjQwol68gLgpm7EdrlLQheYWYLOr8KbtLRBXl9v6WN3VkU-IlAWR6_zmPA.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AQM0SspDECHjjNqF5UQrL7NonKoWyKhxNrtMZnqDVMBQRa3Wf4WcOHCwJ_kmphwXgEBOlA0_j1kZ-gPAOtMwrrg7rEY1Vejvcd9pxjQwol68gLgpm7EdrlLQheYWYLOr8KbtLRBXl9v6WN3VkU-IlAWR6_zmPA.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AQM0SspDECHjjNqF5UQrL7NonKoWyKhxNrtMZnqDVMBQRa3Wf4WcOHCwJ_kmphwXgEBOlA0_j1kZ-gPAOtMwrrg7rEY1Vejvcd9pxjQwol68gLgpm7EdrlLQheYWYLOr8KbtLRBXl9v6WN3VkU-IlAWR6_zmPA.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AQM0SspDECHjjNqF5UQrL7NonKoWyKhxNrtMZnqDVMBQRa3Wf4WcOHCwJ_kmphwXgEBOlA0_j1kZ-gPAOtMwrrg7rEY1Vejvcd9pxjQwol68gLgpm7EdrlLQheYWYLOr8KbtLRBXl9v6WN3VkU-IlAWR6_zmPA.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AQM0SspDECHjjNqF5UQrL7NonKoWyKhxNrtMZnqDVMBQRa3Wf4WcOHCwJ_kmphwXgEBOlA0_j1kZ-gPAOtMwrrg7rEY1Vejvcd9pxjQwol68gLgpm7EdrlLQheYWYLOr8KbtLRBXl9v6WN3VkU-IlAWR6_zmPA.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":441742,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=441742","url_meta":{"origin":458849,"position":2},"title":"Leftists Fake Tears About High Energy Prices, But Ignore the Foreign-Funded Lawfare","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/28\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u2019s an invisible hand reaching into America\u2019s pocket every time we fill up at the pump or pay that electric bill, and it doesn\u2019t come through the Strait of Hormuz.","rel":"","context":"In \"Americans for Public Trust\"","block_context":{"text":"Americans for Public Trust","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=americans-for-public-trust"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-Leftists-Fake-Tears-About-High-Energy-Prices-But-Ignore-the-Foreign-Funded-Lawfare.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-Leftists-Fake-Tears-About-High-Energy-Prices-But-Ignore-the-Foreign-Funded-Lawfare.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-Leftists-Fake-Tears-About-High-Energy-Prices-But-Ignore-the-Foreign-Funded-Lawfare.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-Leftists-Fake-Tears-About-High-Energy-Prices-But-Ignore-the-Foreign-Funded-Lawfare.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":360112,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=360112","url_meta":{"origin":458849,"position":3},"title":"Can State Lawfare Contain the Fictional Methane Crisis?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/02\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A former army officer is leading a green lawfare attack on gas extraction companies.","rel":"","context":"In \"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)\"","block_context":{"text":"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-dioxide-co%e2%82%82"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/09687484_genrussel.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/09687484_genrussel.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/09687484_genrussel.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/09687484_genrussel.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/09687484_genrussel.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":344566,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=344566","url_meta":{"origin":458849,"position":4},"title":"SCOTUS Must Stop Climate Extortion\u00a0Lawfare","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/25\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Chevron recently announced that it is moving out of California\u00a0after almost a century and a half in the state. No wonder, since Sacramento\u00a0sued the company, along with a number of other oil companies,\u00a0for allegedly deceptive practices.","rel":"","context":"In \"California\"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=california"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0GettyImages-1009089704-296410d1dc434d25a448a5ee7e306211-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0GettyImages-1009089704-296410d1dc434d25a448a5ee7e306211-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0GettyImages-1009089704-296410d1dc434d25a448a5ee7e306211-1024x683.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0GettyImages-1009089704-296410d1dc434d25a448a5ee7e306211-1024x683.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":361326,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=361326","url_meta":{"origin":458849,"position":5},"title":"How Madoff\u2019s Ponzi Beneficiaries Are Funding Climate Lawfare","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/10\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"As the single-largest beneficiaries of Bernie Madoff\u2019s Ponzi scheme, the Picowers have plenty to feel awkward about. One way they\u2019re excising the guilt is by financing climate change lawsuits and leftwing judicial influence schemes that will strip Americans of conveniences they take for granted \u2013 say hot showers or efficient\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Bernie Madoff\u2019s Ponzi\"","block_context":{"text":"Bernie Madoff\u2019s Ponzi","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bernie-madoffs-ponzi"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/00Screenshot-2025-01-10-174142-1.png?fit=1200%2C662&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/00Screenshot-2025-01-10-174142-1.png?fit=1200%2C662&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/00Screenshot-2025-01-10-174142-1.png?fit=1200%2C662&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/00Screenshot-2025-01-10-174142-1.png?fit=1200%2C662&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/00Screenshot-2025-01-10-174142-1.png?fit=1200%2C662&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0-ChatGPT-Climate-lawfare-comes-for-American-energy-and-your-wallet.png?fit=1536%2C1024&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=458849"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":458855,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458849\/revisions\/458855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/458851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=458849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=458849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=458849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}