WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Choice Center praises the newly announced House Oversight Committee investigation into the climate lawfare propelled and funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and NYU’s climate change litigation center, and how legally dubious liability lawsuits launched by state AG offices undermine energy affordability for consumers across the country.
The probe launched by Rep. James Comer will center on Bloomberg and NGO-funded staff and lawyers “who then use their positions in state attorneys general offices to file activist lawsuits and lobby for burdensome regulations”.
“The climate litigation industrial complex funded by billionaires like Michael Bloomberg places attorneys in State AG offices to pursue ideological liability cases that have more to do with extracting large settlements from energy providers than providing better energy solutions for consumers,” said Yaël Ossowski, deputy director at the Consumer Choice Center.
“For those of us who do care about the environment and climate solutions and want to see these problems solved through innovation and competition to lower our energy bills, this dubious legal tactic pursued in states across the country harms us more than helps us,” added Ossowski.
“We will not find the ultimate climate change culprit in a courtroom, but we will further increase the litigious nature of our society and economy, hiking prices and slowing development as companies are forced to divert resources for cleaner solutions into legal departments.
“That’s why this investigation is needed to uphold President Trump’s policies to unleash American energy abundance. America can litigate its way into an energy crisis—or it can legislate and innovate its way out. But it can’t do both,” concluded Ossowski.
The Consumer Choice Center supports the committee’s investigation to hold accountable the funding and affiliations in the climate litigation industry and will share policy recommendations to make energy affordability and environmental accountability once again central to our federal judicial system.
This includes a Section 230-type liability reform to ensure energy producers following environmental laws and operating in good faith aren’t held liable for the negligent or harmful climate actions of real bad actors.
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The Consumer Choice Center is an independent, non-partisan consumer advocacy group that champions the benefits of freedom of choice, innovation, and abundance in everyday life for consumers in over 100 countries. We closely monitor regulatory trends in Washington, Brussels, Ottawa, Brasilia, London, and Geneva. Find out more at consumerchoicecenter.org
