NEW: @dataforprogress.org finds voters overwhelmingly oppose giving oil and gas corporations immunity from climate lawsuits. 73% of Democrats, 71% of Independents, and 53% of Republicans agree that Big Oil should not be above the law.

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Some exciting news: this is the end of ExxonKnews on Substack, but I’ll be launching a new and expanded climate accountability reporting project from Ghost later this year. I'll be offline for the next month, but will check signal/email when I'm back --stay in touch. Much more to come!

From yesterday:

Alito should recuse from Suncor v. Boulder, along with the parallel cases, as he has before. What I told @nbcnews.com: “The oil company petitioners in these cases have been explicit in court filings that they view the cases as linked; there is no reason for Justice Alito to view them otherwise."

Trump admin, 6 years after MN sued Exxon, Koch, API, for climate deception, and weeks after MN Supreme Court said it could move into discovery: This is an EMERGENCY and the court needs to shut it down NOW! MN: WTF are you talking about? Waiting 6 years “demonstrates that there is no imminent harm”

Yesterday the Trump Department of Justice sued Minnesota to stop its climate deception lawsuit against some of the world’s most powerful fossil fuel interests. The DOJ filed the lawsuit at the *exact* moment the case was cleared to move into discovery, after 6 years of procedural purgatory.

🚨 The Trump admin is suing Minnesota to stop the state's climate deception lawsuit against Exxon, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute from going forward. “This is a desperate effort to shield the architects of Big Oil’s decades-long climate deception from facing accountability.”

No immunity for Big Oil. Pass it on.

The reason Big Oil is pushing so hard to get blanket legal immunity from Congress is that they are criminals who have profited from many crimes, and do not wish to be held accountable.

Last year a fossil fuel advocate said it was "complete and total paranoia" and "pure fiction" when climate groups warned Big Oil was lobbying for legal immunity. One year later, same guy says "we look forward to working with" Republican sponsors of the bill to give Big Oil immunity. 🤔

I really enjoyed talking to @emorwee.bsky.social about why Big Oil is scared of the courtroom and wants to be above the law forever. Visit www.noimmunityforbigoil.org to learn more and take action to protect our right to hold Big Oil accountable.

@mikemeno.bsky.social notes, “What’s really scary to think about is the bad behavior that fossil fuel companies have engaged in over the years. How much worse do we think their behavior will get when they’re given that sort of get out of jail free card?”

Ted Cruz is the #1 lifetime recipient of fossil fuel money in the entire U.S. senate, receiving over $1 million from the oil and gas industry in the 2024 cycle alone Now he's proposed a bill to give the fossil fuel industry lifetime legal immunity from climate lawsuits

You should read this in full, but in short, John Roberts and the other Koch plants on the Supreme Court blew up the Supreme Court to protect the fossil fuel industry from climate regulation.

In February, Ted Cruz and Harriet Hageman told E&E they "hadn't heard" from oil industry groups when Hageman said she'd intro a bill to immunize Big Oil. Then -SURPRISE!- two major fossil fuel lobby groups are quoted in Hageman's press release thanking her & Cruz for introducing these bills. 🤔 🤔

🚨After months of fossil fuel industry lobbying, Republican lawmakers have introduced federal legislation that would give oil and gas companies immunity from any laws or lawsuits that aim to hold them accountable for their role in the climate crisis. Time to get loud: 📣 NO IMMUNITY FOR BIG OIL 📣

If Big Oil were given total legal immunity, "it would be an injustice with lasting and cascading harm," writes @cadavejones.bsky.social. "The public would keep paying for the costs of climate change, while the fossil fuel companies most responsible for them would continue to pay nothing."

Trump is not just a creation of Big Oil, he is the most vivid expression of its values and moral character.

On the other site, a pro-fossil fuel voice is having a meltdown about this article and calling for "a legal safe harbor" for fossil fuel companies modeled on ... Section 230, which [checks notes] is wildly unpopular across the political spectrum and took a significant hit in the recent Meta ruling.

Big Oil should not be above the law — but that's exactly what fossil fuel lobbyists are pushing for in Congress and statehouses across the country. The New York Times lays out how Big Oil's "goal is broad immunity, similar to what Congress granted to gun manufacturers two decades ago." 👇

Big Oil companies have lied for DECADES about the "catastrophic" dangers of their fossil fuel products, and are now "afraid of being held to account for their own lies," says @govjayinslee.bsky.social. Big Oil must not be above the law.

We could've phased out fossil fuels the gradual, smart and painless way starting in the 1990s The fossil fuel industry decided we have to do it the painful, unfair and cruel way instead. because that gave them an extra few decades of super-profits

Big Oil companies are lobbying Congress to put them above the law. @govjayinslee.bsky.social joined @waytooearly.bsky.social to sound the alarm on why the public’s ability to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for its climate lies must be protected.

Big Oil should not be above the law, @govjayinslee.bsky.social tells @alivitali.bsky.social this morning 👇

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Big Oil companies' arguments for why they shouldn't stand trial for their climate lies. First, the big question: ➡️ Is there any reason to think the justices won’t simply side with Big Oil? @janecoaston.bsky.social and @mikemeno.bsky.social discuss.

Oh look, a Supreme Court justice enjoying the outdoors with [checks notes] ... a billionaire investor of an oil company that's asking SCOTUS to help it escape a climate deception lawsuit in Colorado. Alito, who owns stock in Big Oil companies facing similar suits, has not recused.

New from me in @slate.com: Justice Alito's failure to recuse from a case with—according to the oil industry petitioners—major stakes for the oil industry's future is inexcusable, given his investments in oil. But his financial holdings aren't even the only conflict of interest he has in this case.

I talked to @janecoaston.bsky.social at @crooked.com about Big Oil's desperate efforts at SCOTUS and in Congress to escape facing trials over their climate deception.

🚨 Big Oil is lobbying "to rig the system" to escape legal accountability for their climate lies and keep sticking the public with the bill for the damages. @govjayinslee.bsky.social is sounding the alarm. "If the fossil fuel industry is following the law, what does it have to fear in court?"

Another example of why our highest court shouldn't have the lowest ethics standards. As our @hannahstoryb.bsky.social has covered in @prospect.org, Justice Alito's extensive oil holdings should have propelled him to sit out from considering this case. And he's not the only justice with such ties.

⚠️ Justice Alito — who owns stock in oil companies facing similar climate deception suits — did NOT recuse himself, even though he recused from Boulder's case in 2023, an identical petition in Honolulu last year, and many other similar cases. Why recuse in Boulder's case in '23 but not in '26?

Hey, is it normally a sign that things are going well when you fire your lawyers? Exxon has lost a growing # of rulings in the climate deception cases it faces — in CO, HI, MA, MN, VT, CT, etc. Is that why they ditched their long time lawyers and the industry is lobbying Congress for immunity? 🤔

If Big Oil has done nothing wrong, why are industry lobbyists pleading with Congress for a get-out-of-jail-free card? Fossil fuel companies deceived the public, fueled climate chaos, and stuck taxpayers with the bill. Communities have a right to hold them accountable. 📣 NO IMMUNITY FOR BIG OIL 📣

🚨 A U.S. House representative said she is crafting legislation to stop climate lawsuits and climate superfund laws that would make Big Oil companies pay for climate damages. It’s time for leaders in Congress to speak out and make clear that Big Oil is not above the law. 📣 NO IMMUNITY FOR BIG OIL 📣

"Nearly one-quarter of the associate justice’s $1 million in individual stock holdings are in fossil fuel companies."

🚨State lawmakers want to give Big Oil immunity from lawsuits over their wrongdoing. “Anyone in America who breathes the air around them and also believes in corporate accountability ought to be very concerned about these types of end-runs against accountability,” said @govjayinslee.bsky.social

More of this please.

“If the greatest lie the devil ever told was to convince us that he wasn’t real, the greatest lie the oil industry ever told us is to convince us that they don’t want oil.” This @emdashsanders.bsky.social interview with @antoniajuhasz.bsky.social is a must-read

Justice Alito is recusing from a case against Big Oil companies because he has a financial interest in ConocoPhillips. But he has been inconsistent in recusing from climate deception cases where Conoco has an interest. One such case — from Boulder, Colorado — is now being considered by SCOTUS.

What if, instead, we made Big Oil companies pay for the damage their climate lies have caused to infrastructure across the United States? 😡

Trump: "The oil business in Venezuela has been a bust…We're going to have our very large U.S. oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken oil infrastructure, and start making money."

Former Washington Governor Jay Inslee is right: “People don't like being lied to.” When corporations lie, they should be held accountable. "The fossil fuel industry [has] been lying to the American people for decades. They knew their product was going to cause enormous harm."

NEW: For 25 years, four oil giants sold false climate promises through deceptive ad campaigns. Our report examined 300+ ads from BP, Chevron, Exxon, and Shell from 2000-2025. Together they push a false narrative that Big Oil is leading climate solutions. In reality, they're fueling catastrophe.

Ahem

New: I took a closer look at the Supreme Court justices’ financial and familial ties to the oil industry for @prospect.org as Exxon and Suncor are once again asking the Court to shut down state climate liability cases. I found more than I was expecting.

NEW in @prospect.org from @hannahstoryb.bsky.social: as Exxon once again seeks the help of the Supreme Court to avoid being held accountable for decades of climate deception, Alito isn't the only justice whose oily ties and inconsistent recusals raise serious ethics questions.