Members of Congress from Texas and Wyoming have introduced legislation that would grant fossil fuel companies sweeping legal immunity and shield energy producers from stricter Clean Air Act compliance. Because apparently, when your business model involves setting the planet on fire, the logical next step is to make sure no one can sue you for it.

Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman (Wyo.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) spearheaded bills that would protect fossil fuel companies from liability for damages caused by storms, wildfires, and other climate-fueled disasters. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) collaborated on the FENCES Act, which would make it easier for states to blame foreign emissions for local pollution rather than, say, the oil refineries in their own backyards.

"Energy security is national security," Hageman declared, adding that America should not "self-sabotage our critical industries with a cascade of costly lawsuits." The bill is being referred to as the "Stop Climate Shakedowns Act" - because nothing says "shakedown" like asking companies to pay for the damage their products cause.

The FENCES Act passed the House on April 16 with co-sponsorship from Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and Jeff Crank (R-Colo.). Lummis praised it for "cutting unnecessary red tape" while "preserving strong Clean Air Act standards" - a claim that scientists say doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA maintains thresholds for ozone and regional haze. States that fail to meet them must submit plans to cut pollution. But the FENCES Act would allow states to blame foreign emissions, which Ulla Reeves of the National Parks Conservation Association calls "a red herring to distract from the realities of homegrown pollution."

Dr. Brian Moench of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment compared prolonged ozone exposure to smoking cigarettes. He estimates up to 8,000 stillbirths occur annually in the U.S. due to air pollution. "The idea that life-saving, health-protecting clean air standards burden people and penalize them is just nuts," he said.

On April 21, the day before Earth Day, EPA head Lee Zeldin proposed downgrading the severity of air quality infractions in Salt Lake City. Timing is everything.

The American Petroleum Institute has lobbied in favor of each bill, according to disclosures. Lummis's office said the fossil fuel industry did not lobby her to write the FENCES Act - though they didn't say whether they sent a thank-you card.

Kathy Mulvey of the Union of Concerned Scientists called the bills "part of a broader attack on attribution science" - research that quantifies how much emissions from fossil fuels contributed to specific disasters. That science has been recognized by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as "critical" for understanding climate impacts.

Meanwhile, the West just experienced one of the warmest, driest winters on record. The Colorado River basin faces record low snowpack and a megadrought threatening water and electricity for 40 million people. Texas has weathered snowstorms, wildfires, heatwaves, and flooding. In Corpus Christi, schools and hospitals are drilling for groundwater as the city faces running dry.

"It's really frustrating that [Wyoming's congressional delegation] is going to just continue giving handouts to these industries that have already harmed our communities," said Emma Jones of the Sierra Club's Wyoming chapter.

Cyrus Reed of the Sierra Club's Lone Star chapter put it more bluntly: "I'm disappointed that Cruz is using his position as Senator of the great state of Texas to do the bidding of large oil and gas and industrial companies instead of looking out for the health and affordability of average Texans."

Hageman and Cruz's bills have been referred to each chamber's Judiciary Committee. The FENCES Act awaits a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where Lummis sits on the Republican majority. The planet, meanwhile, awaits further developments.