EXCLUSIVE: Congress urged to protect energy companies, consumers amid Suncor case

“With more than 300 climate lawsuits and blue-state ‘superfund’ laws targeting American energy, we’re urging the Judiciary Committee to pass Rep. [Harriet] Hageman’s Stop Climate Shakedowns Act now, before families get stuck with the bill,” Turner said.

Boulder County, Colo., and other blue state and local governments across the country filed lawsuits across the country against the oil and gas industry in efforts to make the industry pay billions of dollars in damages allegedly caused by climate change. 

The Stop Climate Shakedowns Act intends to “protect American energy from leftist legal crusades punishing lawful activity” according to a press release from Hageman, R-Wyoming.

Power the Future sent its letter urging for the passage of Hageman’s bill to the House Committee on the Judiciary on Wednesday.

Turner explained that the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act would stop “a massive climate tax hike no one, except the green movement, wants.”

“During a time when everyone is feeling the squeeze on price tags, our report found these lawsuits could cost up to $2,111 per household a year, about 41 cents more per gallon of gas and electric rates up to 8.6 percent higher,” Turner said.

Turner refers to a report Power the Future released that detailed how American consumers would foot the bill if “plaintiffs win major monetary awards against the oil and gas industry in a series of climate change lawsuits filed by state and local governments across the U.S.,” as The Center Square reported.

Turner advised consumers to “follow the money” when it comes to climate change cases similar to Suncor v. Boulder. 

“The climate movement is a $31-billion-a-year industry that couldn’t pass its agenda through Congress, so it went to the courts, where they don’t have to answer to the voters,” Turner said.

In his letter to the Judiciary Committee, Turner wrote: “As opening arguments begin in the U.S. Supreme Court case Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, I am writing to urge your support for swift passage of H.R. 8330, the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026.”

Turner stated in the letter that the legislation in question “protects American energy producers from lawsuits and ‘superfund’ programs that aim to punish lawful activity and undermine our energy security, the type of activity at issue in Boulder County, Colorado.”

Turner said in his letter that “the climate change movement in America is a big business, and lawsuits are how they make money.” 

“The courts are weaponized against one industry, driving up costs for every American while enriching some and bankrolling the campaigns of others,” Turner said.