Activists Are Destroying American Energy — Here’s How To Stop Them

If leftists hate fossil fuels so much, why don’t they just stop using them?

The answer is that they can’t, because our natural sources of energy are the basis for both the U.S. and global economies, and they make life livable today.

So, while they can’t quit the use of oil, natural gas, and coal, misguided liberal politicians around the country are nevertheless simultaneously passing laws and filing lawsuits to punish perfectly lawful behavior by the companies that produce our energy. 

And when that punishment is administered, it is the American consumers who suffer.

The point of all of it is to squeeze money out of private firms, destroy their ability to operate and produce, and increase the price of energy. Their clear goal is to completely eliminate the use of fossil fuels and make the ride as painful as possible for everyone.

But their logic is absurd, because they need energy companies to be healthy enough to fund their liberal legislative wish lists. Put another way, they are dependent on milk from a cow they are actively trying to kill.

Congress must put a stop to this foolishness, not only because these theories cannot pass legal or constitutional muster, but because they are dangerous.

That’s why I’ve introduced legislation called the Stop Climate Shakedown Act of 2026 to prevent states from harming our economy and national security by prohibiting them from imposing retroactive climate liability on energy producers.  

We will protect American jobs, promote domestic energy production, and ensure that our producers are not destroyed by environmental radicals who want to demolish our entire way of life. And we will protect consumers from these intentionally inflicted damages, which are becoming more and more common.

Vermont and New York have enacted so-called “climate superfund” laws that punish energy companies for perfectly legal production in the past and for lawful activity in the present. Legislators in California, Hawaii, Maryland, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Virginia have considered similar proposals. 

Truthfully, “climate superfunds” amount to little more than politically themed slush funds built on a dangerous legal precedent: retroactive punishment for lawful activity undertaken in compliance with government granted permits. Stated another way, these states and local governments are pursuing ex post facto lawsuits to extort money from companies that have complied with all of their laws and regulations.  

Energy producers extracted and refined oil and natural gas, and mined coal, under permits issued by federal and state governments. Their products powered factories, hospitals, universities, schools, farms, and homes. They helped build the modern American economy and lifted billions of people worldwide out of poverty. The companies being targeted are the very ones who helped make the United States the world’s leading energy producer and our country the most prosperous on earth. 

This is policymaking by environmental activists imposing their own anxieties on other people and expecting all of us to pay for it. It’s also a thinly disguised way for leftists to fund their favored liberal projects and policies—such as providing free healthcare to illegal aliens—after spending decades mismanaging their state and local budgets.   

The superfund laws, however, are only part of a broader strategy. 

Several states and municipalities have launched coordinated climate lawsuits against energy companies. These suits attempt to force producers to pay billions—sometimes trillions—of dollars for local infrastructure projects allegedly required to adapt to a changing climate. (RELATED: Climate Change Reparations Melted By New Court Ruling In Deep Blue State)

Courts have recognized that regulating emissions falls under federal jurisdiction through laws like the Clean Air Act, not a patchwork of litigation, so these activists have adopted a new strategy. Their latest legal approach is to accuse energy companies of misleading the public about fossil fuels or conspiring to block renewable energy. What these suits are really about is extracting as much cash as possible to fund leftist political priorities.

The U.S. Supreme Court is about to enter the fray, as the justices have agreed to hear a case from Boulder, Colorado, on these very points. And with it, the Court has a chance to stop this nonsense cold.

Absent a high court ruling on this point, President Trump has already taken action through an executive order directing federal agencies to identify and stop state and local laws that burden domestic energy production. The order recognized a basic truth: America’s energy security cannot be dictated by a handful of activist state or local governments attempting to regulate global emissions through lawsuits or superfund laws.

Acting under the executive order, the Department of Justice has taken important steps to intervene in some cases that are underway in a number of states. The truth is, though, that having the administration participate in ongoing litigation alone will not solve the problem.

Congress must act to restore clarity to our nation’s energy policy. We cannot allow individual states to impose retroactive liability on companies for lawful and fully permitted activity that occurred generations ago, especially when those activities were essential to powering the very states who now seek damages. (RELATED: Trump Admin Withdrawing From ‘Anti-American’ Global Climate Change Regimes)

Undermining our energy producers through backward-looking penalties, or phony future offenses hallucinated by environmental extremists, will not lower global emissions—but it will weaken American energy security and hand strategic advantages to adversaries like China.

If we are serious about protecting our economy and our energy independence, we must stop this wave of punitive attacks from the left before it spreads further. Congress should make it clear: you cannot rewrite history to punish the industries that powered it.