AEA Sends Letter Of Support For H.R. 8330, Stop The Climate Shakedowns Act

On Wednesday, September 16 the American Energy Alliance sent a formal letter of support to the offices of Representative Jim Jordan and Representative Harriet Hageman thanking them for bringing H.R. 8330, the Stop the Climate Shakedowns Act, to the full Committee on the Judiciary for a vote. Should the bill pass through committee, AEA calls on Jordan and Hageman to urge Congressional leadership to bring the measure to the House floor without delay. The full letter is available below:

Dear Chairman Jim Jordan:

On behalf of the American Energy Alliance (AEA) and the millions of working families who rely on affordable, reliable American energy every day, I am writing to express my support for H.R. 8330, the Stop the Climate Shakedowns Act, and thank you for bringing the measure to the full Committee on the Judiciary for a vote.

The American energy sector is under a coordinated, radical attack by a loose network of state trial attorneys, activist judges, and municipal politicians trying to weaponize state courts to bankrupt the domestic energy industry. These municipal cash grabs, which are disguised as “climate lawsuits” and state “climate superfund” tax schemes, are nothing short of an unconstitutional tax on hard-working Americans.

For years, activists and municipal leaders in places like Boulder and Honolulu have tried to use state law to bypass the democratic process. Lawsuits like Suncor Energy v. Boulder County and City and County of Honolulu v. Sunoco demand billions of dollars from American oil, natural gas, and coal producers for the lawful, highly regulated energy production that keeps our lights on, our homes warm, and our economy moving.

At the same time, Vermont’s disastrous “Climate Superfund” model is attempting to retroactively fine out-of-state energy producers for decades of lawful emissions. These schemes bypass constitutional due process guarantees, violate the Commerce Clause, and usurp federal authority over interstate environmental regulation and foreign affairs.

H.R. 8330 resolves these issues once and for all by:

• Restoring Federal Exclusivity: Affirming that the federal government—not local city councils or municipal judges—holds sole jurisdiction over interstate environmental standards and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Ending Abusive Litigation: Shutting down current and future state-law climate suits, including predatory claims targeting corporate speech, product marketing, and failure-to-warn theories.
• Nullifying Unconstitutional Taxes: Voiding state-level “energy penalty” laws, preventing radical state legislatures from extorting out-of-state producers to fund local slush funds.
• Securing the Entire Supply Chain: Protecting miners, drillers, refiners, truckers, and gas station operators from predatory class-action litigation.

If state courts and local politicians are allowed to fleece energy producers for hundreds of billions of dollars, everyday families will pay those costs at the gas pump and on their monthly power bills. A single county in Colorado or a single state legislature in Vermont should not have the authority to dictate national energy policy, dictate energy costs for consumers across all fifty states, or compromise national security.

Allowing local trial lawyers to weaponize state courts against domestic energy producers destroys the regulatory certainty required to invest in American production, driving up energy costs and handing economic leverage to foreign adversaries. H.R. 8330 provides the exact federal legislative preemption needed to protect American energy independence, defend the rule of law, and safeguard consumers from skyrocketing costs.

If this legislation passes your committee, we hope you will urge Congressional leadership to bring the measure to the House floor without delay. It is time for Congress to end these unconstitutional shakedowns so we can continue to produce the affordable, reliable energy that powers America.

Thank you, again, for your leadership. 

Sincerely,

Thomas Pyle
President, American Energy Alliance