Vermont has become the first state to pass a law forcing fossil fuel companies to pay for climate change damages.
Under the Climate Superfund Act, Vermont will calculate the cost of greenhouse gas emissions between 1995 and 2024.
Responsible companies will then be billed for climate-adaptive and resilient infrastructure projects. State regulators have until 2026 to determine the climate change costs attributed to major oil and gas producers.
Anthony Iarrapino a lobbyist for the Conservation Law Foundation said the measure would survive expected legal challenges.
"Vermont is simply saying Vermonters are experiencing damage as a result of the products and activities of some of the world's largest fossil fuel extracting and refining companies; and they have made a mess in Vermont it is only fair that they be held to account to pay for the damages that they've caused," he said.
Iarrapino added, "We are a small state with a small budget relative to some and that's why it is all more important that Vermont taxpayers not be the ones on the hook for all the climate damages we are experiencing while the largest fossil fuel extracting and refining companies in the world are reaping record profits."
Regulators have a few years to determine past and future damages traceable to individual companies.
Payments from fossil fuel businesses will, in turn, fund climate adaptive and resilient infrastructure.
The bill passed with supermajorities in the Vermont legislature. It became law Thursday without a signature from Governor Phil Scott.
