The world’s largest fossil fuel companies could be required to pay for climate change damage to Maine under proposals being considered by state lawmakers.
Two bills to create a climate superfund are up for debate just as the Trump administration files lawsuits against similar state laws.
The measures would make oil and gas companies responsible for at least 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution since the 1990s compensate Maine communities for storms and other harms made worse by a warming climate.
"The big thing is to ensure that we’re holding the biggest polluters, the multi billion dollar multi-national corporations, that we’re holding them accountable instead of working Maine communities," said Rep. Grayson Looker D-Portland, a sponsor of one of the bills.
The proposals would require the state treasurer to calculate how much companies owe the state. The money would be used for climate adaption projects in Maine.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey last year sued major oil companies including ExxonMobil and British Petroleum for intentionally selling products they knew would harm the state.
In 2024 Vermont became the first state to pass such a law, modeled after the federal superfund act that makes polluters pay for cleaning up contaminated properties.
That law has been challenged in court by the fossil fuel industry. The Trump administration recently filed a lawsuit to block Vermont's measure and a similar law in New York, alleging they are superseded by federal law.
Nicholas Janzen, director of policy and partnerships at Maine Conservation Voters, says he thinks such challenges should embolden Maine lawmakers to push these bills forward.
"The trump admin is really trying to bully states for their oil and gas buddies to not act on climate," Janzen said.
I would hope that Maine is not cowed by that and does what it knows it needs to do to create a funding source and hold oil and gas companies responsible for the damage they've caused."
