The America Leads Alliance, a group battling state and local climate lawsuits against oil companies, has hired the well-connected firm Bracewell LLP to lobby, a new filing shows.

Why it matters: The group's emergence is the latest sign of multi-front pushback against litigation targeting Big Oil, and state efforts to get fossil fuel giants to pay damages via "climate superfund" laws.

Driving the news: "ALA exists to protect families from the cost of harmful state climate lawfare and policies, and to defend our national security interests," said executive director Liam Donovan in a statement to Axios.

• Donovan is the president of Targeted Victory, a major GOP communications and strategy firm, and left his role as a senior political strategist at Bracewell last year.

Zoom out: Donovan said ALA is "working to expose the coordinated and well-funded campaign behind these efforts, push back against misguided and costly state actions, and support common sense solutions."

• He cited the "Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026," introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), as a plan the group supports.

How it works: The bill would bar any climate liability lawsuits against fossil fuel companies, toss existing cases, and block state "climate superfund" laws on the books in New York and Vermont and that several states are weighing.

• It declares that greenhouse gases are exclusively under federal purview. The measure has backing from the American Petroleum Institute and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers.
• Green groups like the Center for Climate Integrity, Sierra Club and Earthjustice are working against it.

Zoom in: The group emerged in March, and the newly filed document shows that Bracewell's representation is effective June 1. Lobbyists listed on the account are:

• Joseph Brazauskas, who was a senior EPA official in Trump 1.0 working on congressional and intergovernmental affairs, and has extensive Capitol Hill experience.
• Holt ​Edwards, who also worked at EPA in President Trump's first term and subsequently on Capitol Hill for Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and the chamber's environment committee.
• Scott Segal, a longtime Bracewell partner who is very well known in D.C. policy circles.

The intrigue: It's not identifying specific funders.

• "ALA is supported by a coalition of organizations and stakeholders who share concerns about affordability, responsible policymaking, and energy reliability," Donovan tells Axios via email.

What we're watching: It joins a much wider constellation of groups either backing or opposing state laws and litigation in what has become an intense fight.

• The Trump administration is also part of the sprawling legal and policy fight. It has filed suit against the New York and Vermont laws.
• The administration also filed a brief with the Supreme Court in the pending case over whether federal law precludes state-level lawsuits seeking climate damages.

Brent crude prices climbed above $95 per barrel today before retreating, amid little sign of an off-ramp to Middle East hostilities and Ukrainian attacks that are stymieing oil transit in the Black Sea.

• Threat level: Trading analytics firm Kpler reports reduced transit through the Strait of Hormuz, but also the Bab el Mandeb — a key Saudi export route — due to threats from Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis.

🎭 Fresh PJM drama: "A frustrated Trump administration wants major changes to the operator of America's largest power grid — perhaps even breaking it apart — as federal regulators meet this week to discuss the organization's fate," Bloomberg reports.

• What we're watching: All five members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will appear this morning before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

👀 The WSJ got a peek at the expanding list of companies signing the White House "ratepayer protection pledge."

• Driving the news: "NextEra Energy, Duke Energy, Equinix and Digital Realty are among the nearly 200 entities" pledging to ensure the AI boom doesn't push up consumer power costs, the paper reports.
• What's next: President Trump plans to announce new commitments tomorrow at EPA, the story states.

Bluecore Energy, a startup looking to place small modular reactors on barges to power ports and other users, emerged from stealth yesterday with $10 million in pre-seed funding.

Why it matters: Ports like the massive one in Long Beach, California — where the firm is headquartered — have gigantic energy needs that Bluecore CEO founder and CEO Kofi Asante calls ripe for powering with nuclear.

• "My team and I took nuclear reactor technology that's been powering plants safely for 70 years, scaled it down, and put it on a barge. A power plant that floats," he posted on LinkedIn.

State of play: Slauson & Co. led the round, with participation from Harlem Capital, Precursor Ventures, LMNT Ventures and others.

What we're watching: The company has already secured a port terminal and is building a test reactor on a 185-foot barge, Axios Pro's Katie Fehrenbacher reports.

One reason Texas leads the nation in wind and solar power: speed.

• A new analysis of 76 projects from 2018-2025 finds the median development timeline is 3.5 years — about 40% faster than projects on federal lands.
• Full paper via the nonpartisan think tank Resources For the Future.

"The same company with the same AI usage may get a range of AI emissions that's fivefold or more. That's not a rounding error. It's a data problem."