Pirate's Cove

I’d usually be against government saying companies cannot be sued, but, really, the astroturfed lawsuits against fossil fuels companies are scams, shakedowns, and a way of trying to force Other People to live without the same fossil fuels the warmists themselves refuse to give up

Climate change lawsuits against fossil fuel companies would be blocked under Louisiana proposal

The Louisiana Legislature is considering a new law to prohibit anyone from suing oil and gas companies for any damages, injuries or deaths attributed to pollution-driven climate change.

House Bill 804, sponsored by Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, cleared its first hurdle Thursday when it advanced with unanimous support from the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment.

The bill would effectively give energy companies legal immunity from liability related to illnesses, injuries, deaths or other damages stemming from the climate effects of industrial air pollution.

CO2 is not a pollutant, but, a trace gas necessary for life on Earth.

Geymann, who is calling his proposal the Louisiana Energy Protection Act, said it is not meant to stop legitimate lawsuits against a particular facility’s greenhouse gas emissions. Its prohibition would not apply to damages arising from violations of regulatory air permits or the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

And that is the way it should be: if they actually create pollution, they should be held responsible.

While some Republicans on the Louisiana House committee questioned the legitimacy of climate science, lawmakers from both parties voiced approval for Geymann’s bill, which has the backing of influential business and fossil fuel lobby groups.

Rep. Marcus Bryant, D-New Iberia, poked fun at the notion of climate change litigation by comparing it to him suing a golf course for a gust of wind pushing his ball into a pond.

“I hit the ball and, out the blue, a whiff of wind puts my ball in the water,” Bryant said. “Golf courses are not in this bill. I could sue my golf course? Because this was serious.”

Suing fossil fuels companies when they refuse to give them up themselves is sillier, especially when there is nothing unusual about this Holocene warm period.