Fossil fuel companies will be shielded from climate lawsuits in Tennessee

Fossil fuel companies just gained more power in Tennessee. 

The General Assembly passed a bill this week to shield oil and gas giants from being held liable for damages caused by climate change. 

Legal tensions between people, governments and big polluters have been heating up across the nation. From Honolulu to Maine, dozens of local communities, states and individuals have sued fossil fuel companies and their trade associations for allegedly lying to consumers about climate change risks and solutions.

Tennessee will now preemptively block such lawsuits. 

Courtesy Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

The Shell Norco refinery is seen along the Mississippi River in Norco, La., Thursday, March 8, 2018. The refinery is considered one of the largest petrochemical facilities in the United States.

The legislation, SB2560/HB2070, is nearly identical to model legislation drafted by Consumers Defense, a group that has advocated against environmental standards and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Similar iterations of the bill have surfaced in Louisiana, Utah, Iowa and Oklahoma. It closely mirrors a legislative attempt to prevent citizens from filing class action lawsuits against pesticide companies like Bayer, formerly Monsanto. 

Tennessee Rep. Chris Todd, R-Madison County, sponsored the bill. He presented an argument against liability during a committee hearing on March 3. 

“I mean we did have an ice age, and none of us were around burning anything,” Todd said. 

He described the legislation as a way to protect Tennessee companies, but the bill only protects fossil fuel companies from Tennessee citizens or governments. 

Lawsuits target ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron and other oil giants

Lawsuits are multiplying. More than a dozen states, along with the major cities of New York, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, have active lawsuits that represent more than a fourth of the U.S. population, according to the Center for Climate Integrity.

Many liability lawsuits advancing today target big players like ExxonMobil, a company valued at more than $600 billion. 

Exxon’s own scientists began accurately predicting how fossil fuel use would warm the planet back in the 1970s. They then spent the next few decades denying that science while pushing their products. 

In January, the American Petroleum Institute announced that shielding fossil fuel companies from “abusive” climate lawsuits was a top priority in 2026. The group, which has been named as a defendant in cases filed by the attorneys general in California, Minnesota and other states, also lobbied Congress for liability protection last year. 

Tennessee lawmakers support the fossil fuel industry 

Tennessee is often among the first states to pass legislation lobbied for by the fossil fuel industry. 

Since 2022, the state legislature has passed measures to preempt local governments from blocking fossil fuel projects, to boycott banks that divest from fossil fuels, to increase felony charges for people protesting pipelines, refineries or plants, to preempt bans on gas stoves, and to legally defined methane gas as “renewable energy.”

Under the latest legislative move, the industry has captured even more clout. 

The bill has passed both the state House and Senate. Unless Gov. Bill Lee vetoes the bill, it will become law