Despite local resistance from Pennsylvania workers, on April 10, a Rockefeller-funded activist organization that recruits municipalities, cities, and states across the country to join the litigation campaign pitched their anti-energy playbook to the Allegheny County Council Committee on Sustainability and Green Initiatives. The Center for Climate Integrity’s (CCI) presentation came days after a wide variety
Supporters of climate litigation are leaning into alternative strategies to extract dollars from the American energy industry. Last Tuesday, Vermont’s state Senate passed a “climate superfund” bill that would fine American energy companies to pay for the effects of climate change. Similar legislation has also been introduced in Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, and most recently
On Monday, reputable policy and legal experts – including state attorneys general, business groups, former DOJ officials, and distinguished law professors – asked the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) to put an end to the outlandish legal attacks against America’s energy producers. The slew of amicus briefs support petitions filed by energy companies
Less than 24 hours after Bucks County, Pennsylvania filed a climate lawsuit against essential energy producers it seems like the only ones applauding the commissioners’ decision are Washington D.C. climate activists. Meanwhile, voices across the state are decrying the lawsuit as “hypocritical,” “non-sensical,” and “abusive” while highlighting that the suit was seemingly discussed with little
The billionaire-funded climate litigation campaign against American energy companies has accomplished little in the near decade since its start, with the cases mired in procedural issues and setbacks along the way. Recognizing this, it appears the leaders of the Rockefeller foundations – the central strategists and financial backers of the lawsuits – have decided to hedge their lawfare bets and pursue
The City of Chicago today announced a climate lawsuit against oil companies, making it the latest city to dedicate taxpayer resources towards a billionaire-backed lawfare campaign that, to date, has only lost on the merits. The lawsuit is supported by familiar faces. The city is being represented by San Francisco-based plaintiffs’ firm Sher Edling, LLP, the law firm serving
California’s hostile energy policies have led to the highest prices at the pump in the nation, rolling blackouts, increased foreign imports to keep the state running, and as seen in news this week, made investments in oil and gas production and refining increasingly risky. Just last month California Attorney General Rob Bonta traveled to COP28
We are heading into the twelfth year of the national litigation campaign against America’s energy industry – but you wouldn’t know it from looking at it. Despite this decade of assaults from activists, the lawsuits have failed to deliver a penny of the millions of dollars in damages government officials claim to be seeking, and
New financial statements reveal that anti-energy activists, the groups that fund them, and the politicians whom the control all continue to profit from the very same industries they routinely demonize. In 2014, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) – a backer of anti-Keystone XL pipeline and nationwide fossil fuel divestment campaigns – pledged to divest the
California politicians apparently want to discuss the state’s climate lawsuit anywhere but in California itself. First, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the lawsuit with a New York Times exclusive followed by a Times interview at Climate Week NYC. Then, Newsom couldn’t help himself from declaring California to be the energy industry’s new “foe” during last Thursday’s Red State vs. Blue State Debate, where
This week, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) joined Senate Republicans in voting to strip the salary of embattled National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) Acting Administrator Ann Carlson. On Tuesday, the Senate voted on an amendment to a spending bill that would defund Carlson’s position as Acting Administrator, a role that Republicans in the Senate claim
Last October, New Jersey’s brand-new Attorney General Matt Platkin filed a climate lawsuit following years of activist pressure in the state. Platkin quickly retained Sher Edling, the law firm representing nearly two dozen plaintiffs in climate lawsuits on a contingency fee basis, while simultaneously accepting outside funds from billionaires and Hollywood stars. Although the contingency fee arrangements in
When NPR’s Rockefeller-funded Climate Desk article “broke” the news on a new report this week, it took absolutely no time at all to connect the dots to the usual anti-fossil fuel crew behind the effort. A closer look at the report – and reporting – reveals a classic “who’s who” of the funders, activists, and
As senior lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue to probe Sher Edling’s financing and consulting relationships, new evidence suggests yet another “advisor” has closer ties to the firm than previously revealed. New information reveals that University of Vermont Law professor emeritus Pat Parenteau, a longtime commenter on climate litigation in the media, has worked directly with Sher
Four years after the climate lawsuit pushed by the New York Attorney General’s office was dealt a comprehensive defeat, California is putting forward its own case based on the same debunked theory that completely fell apart for Eric Schneiderman all those years ago – ironically, on New York’s turf and apparently ignorant that the Empire
