Emily Sanders is climate journalist based in Queens, New York.
The fossil fuel industry is pushing Congress for immunity from climate lawsuits that could force the industry to pay billions for misleading the public about the dangers of fossil fuels — attempting to lock in the same legal shield that protects gun manufacturers.
The 2020 rupture of a carbon dioxide pipeline in a Mississippi village that poisoned dozens of people inspired a slate of new safety regulations, proposed in the last week of Joe Biden’s presidency. Donald Trump has withdrawn the proposed rules.
As Congress negotiates to reauthorize important pipeline safety legislation, fossil fuel donors are pushing to add more criminal penalties for those protesting pipeline construction.
Big Oil has launched a lobbying blitz to scale back safety regulations for its build-out of experimental carbon dioxide pipelines, endangering nearby communities in the event of a leak.
As evidence mounts of Big Oil’s history of climate denialism, the industry’s choice law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, is using the “free speech” defense to suppress criticism and safeguard oil companies’ ability to deceive the public.