Dive Brief: - Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced a bill this month to prohibit lawsuits against fossil fuel-based energy producers because of their greenhouse gas emissions and preempt any states’ attempts to regulate such emissions. - Bills similar to the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act that would protect energy producers from lawsuits over their emissions’ role in climate change have passed in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah, and one has been introduced in Louisiana. - If enacted, the bill would halt at least 20 lawsuits states and municipal governments have filed to hold oil and gas companies responsible for contributing to climate change. It would also void climate “Superfund” laws, like those New York and Vermont have passed, that require companies that have contributed to greenhouse gas buildup to help pay for infrastructure investments to adapt to climate change. Dive Insight: Cities, counties and states across the country have brought lawsuits against a handful of energy-producing companies based on nuisance and other consumer-protection and deceptive practices laws, Annie Donaldson Talley, a partner at law firm Luther Strange and Associates, said during a recent Federalist Society webinar. “The main thrust of all of them is that the fossil fuel-based energy companies have caused global warming that harms communities and have sold lots and lots of oil and fossil fuels over the years,” she said. The suits have been filed almost exclusively in state courts, and some have been dismissed, Jonathan Adler, a professor at the William & Mary Law School, said during the webinar. A case brought against Chevron by the City and County of Honolulu and the Honolulu Water Supply Board is currently in the Hawaii Court of Appeals. In February, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Suncor Energy and Exxon Mobil’s petition seeking review of a Colorado Supreme Court