“Judicial protection of the decision of American consumers over many decades to choose the best energy products–and in this case petroleum products for transportation and home heating–is common sense. This law will better protect Americans than court decisions, however favorable, against the anti-energy, anti-consumer extremists with false pretenses.”
The Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026 (S.4340), introduced in the Senate by Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and in the House by Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), proposes to protect energy companies from climate change lawsuits and state-level penalties. This legislation is in response to climate activism in 11 states, two of which (Vermont and New York) have enacted “climate superfund” laws. The other nine states looking seeking judicial payouts are California, Hawaii, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
A press release from Rep.…
“Currently, in many car markets, an electric car is more expensive to purchase upfront than a comparable gasoline- or diesel-powered model, which tends to be the biggest consideration for most consumers.” (New York Times, August 18, 2026, below)
The statistic of increasing global sales of electric vehicles (EVs) is often cited as if consumers in an open, free market prefer EVs to internal combustion engines. A careful reading of a recent New York Times article, “The Gulf Oil Shock Is Pushing E.V. Sales to New Heights Globally” (August 18, 2026), supports the counter-thesis that EV sales are driven by special government favor. Here-today-gone-tomorrow EV subsidies (as in the U.S.) raise the question of sustainability. From a government-neutral, consumer-first perspective, EVs are not sustainable.
“Electric car sales are on track to hit record highs this year,” begin Mira Rojanasakul and Brad Plumer, “with 29 percent of all new cars purchased around the world expected to be either purely battery-powered models or plug-in hybrids,” versus four percent in 2020.…
“The doom industry is alive and well despite a litany of failed predictions along the way…. Statism and statism alone can cause mass destruction and deaths, as proven in the 20th century…. The ‘insurance policy’ against this is a free society based on private property rights, voluntary exchange, and the rule of law.”
The world’s most viewed climate website (WUWT) contains a list of the exaggerated, failed apocalyptic predictions from neo-Malthusians in the last half century. So I was surprised to see this new prediction making the rounds.
Mark Campbell, “environmental journalist and communicator,” posted at his website: “Insurers Say Half the World Could Be Killed by Climate Change” (June 11, 2026). I learned of him and this prediction in a LinkedIn exchange where he protested against Michael Shellenberger’s “Caught Pushing an Apocalyptic Scenario They Knew Couldn’t Occur, Climate Scientists Are Now Claiming Their Policies Prevented It.”…