The fossil fuel industry is increasingly being held accountable for its harms to human health and environmental. But new bills that promise “climate immunity” are trying to change that, says Shweta Arya, senior project manager for smart surfaces at APHA’s Center for Climate, Health and Equity.

Human-driven climate change has contributed to a range of chronic illnesses, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, neurological harms and adverse reproductive outcomes. Beyond the physical suffering, the health impacts cost the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars each year. 

As public health advocates, our job is to promote better health and prevent harm. We track asthma triggers, prepare for deadly heat waves and work to ensure the air people breathe does not make them sick. 

But a new wave of legislation in Congress threatens to undermine that mission by shielding the fossil fuel industry from accountability for the harms we work to prevent. 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., recently introduced the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026, a federal bill designed to grant the oil and gas industry broad immunity from legal and financial responsibility for environmental damages. If the bill passes, state and local governments will no longer be able to hold polluting companies accountable. The bill follows a troubling trend of such immunity shields enacted in Utah, Oklahoma, Iowa and Tennessee. 

This legislative push did not emerge in a vacuum. It is the latest chapter in a decades-long campaign of deception and delay, echoing the tobacco industry's strategy of downplaying known health risks of combustible tobacco, confusing the public with misleading marketing campaigns and stalling regulation. 

Fossil fuel companies have followed a similar script: deny the evidence, cast doubt on science and avoid accountability for the harms their products cause. 

Immunity shields have a decades-long history in America. A 2005 U.S. law granted the firearms industry immunity from lawsuits over gun violence. Not a single negligence case against a gun manufacturer has successfully gone to trial since it was enacted.

If the new climate immunity bill passes, the fossil fuel industry could receive the same broad legal protection — effectively giving it a get-out-of-jail-free pass, despite its role in causing an air pollution crisis. 

Public health professionals are making their voices heard through a new letter to Congress, led by Physicians for Social Responsibility and Fossil Free For Health. Let your legislators know how you feel by adding your name now. 

And learn more about how you can help hold polluters responsible for their actions through a free webinar on June 23 hosted by APHA, the Network for Public Health Law and other supporters. 

We can stand up for the health of our communities together.

Paige Knappenberger, MA, MA, director of environment and health program at Physicians for Social Responsibility, contributed to this article.

Caption: A coal-powered factory near Morgantown, West Virginia, emits pollution into the air. (Photo by BackyardProduction, courtesy iStockphoto)