Climate lawfare comes for American energy and your wallet
By
Frank Lasee
|
July 28th, 2026
There is a quiet, coordinated campaign underway to reshape American energy policy. It is being waged not by voters or their elected representatives, but by a small network of activist lawyers, blue-state officials, and anonymous donors. They have figured out that what they cannot win at the ballot box, they might extract from a courtroom. And it is costing you already.
The vehicle is climate litigation. Across the country, about 40 nearly identical lawsuits have been filed by states, counties, and cities demanding that oil and gas companies pay billions of dollars for their alleged role in climate change.
Eleven states, the District of Columbia, and dozens of local governments have signed on. And behind a striking number of them is the same California firm. Sher Edling is filing copy-and-paste complaints on a contingency-fee basis, meaning the lawyers get paid only if the money flows, and then take a healthy cut.
Who bankrolls this? Congressional investigators have documented millions in “dark money” that Sher Edling reportedly received — roughly $3 million routed through the Collective Action Fund and the New Venture Fund. They are pass-through vehicles that are not required to disclose their donors.
https://www.cfact.org/2026/07/28/climate-lawfare-comes-for-american-energy-and-your-wallet/
