A Republican congresswoman is taking a stand against climate litigation going through the courts.
Wyoming Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman and legal experts promoted her Stop Climate Shakedowns Act during a noon briefing hosted by the America Leads Alliance on Wednesday. At the briefing, Hageman declared that “Energy security is national security.”
Sponsored by Hageman and Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, H.R. 8330 — the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026 — seeks to fight against “climate superfund” laws and climate liability lawsuits. The bill would invalidate state laws that impose energy-related penalties and reaffirm the federal government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and other interstate environmental standards.
“They can’t get a cap-and-trade through the legislative process. Even in blue states, they can’t get a carbon tax,” Hageman said at the briefing. “So they decided to turn to the courts.”
Hageman explained that through the courts, climate activists can attempt to get billions of dollars for alleged damages suffered. The briefing’s panelists attributed this strategy to a 2012 conference, where activists and trial attorneys allegedly hatched a plan to bypass federal gridlock through the courts.
Cruz and Hageman’s press offices each did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
Donald Kochan, a law professor and executive director of Law and Economics Center, elaborated that these lawsuits start with a “knock on the door” from plaintiff’s attorneys promising municipalities windfall in exchange of a contingency fee.
The conversation frequently returned to the ongoing affordability crisis.
Liam Donovan, Executive Director of the America Leads Alliance, warned that these lawsuits create a “domino effect” on the entire value chain.
“Energy is an input to literally everything we do,” Donovan said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s transportation, logistics, or the widget you order from Amazon … everything becomes more expensive.”
Michael Williams, Solicitor General of West Virginia, added that companies are already beginning to “price that uncertainty” into future energy costs, effectively creating a hidden tax on consumers long before a verdict is reached.
(DCNF)