New York passes climate change Superfund law for greenhouse gas emissions
Landmark legislation allows the state to collect $75 billion from big oil and gas companies, to pay for projects to mitigate climate change impacts like flooding and extreme heat.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday signed a landmark law that will allow the state to collect $75 billion from fossil fuel companies to pay for climate change mitigation projects.
The legislation, known as the Climate Change Superfund Act, sets up what is known as strict liability for the biggest polluters — meaning, the companies can be forced to pay even if they are not found to have committed wrongdoing.
Fossil fuel producers and refiners that are deemed responsible for over 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions will have to pay into the fund over 25 years based on their relative emissions between 2000 and 2018.
The bill says installing infrastructure needed to adapt climate change could “easily reach several hundred billion dollars,” which is “far more than the $75 billion being assessed on the fossil fuel industry.”
“With nearly every record rainfall, heatwave, and coastal storm, New Yorkers are increasingly burdened with billions of dollars in health, safety, and environmental consequences due to polluters that have historically harmed our environment,” Hochul said in a statement.
The bill takes inspiration from state and federal laws that allow governments to assess fines for toxic spills. Those laws do not address greenhouse emissions.
It is the second of what some expect to be a wave of climate change Superfund laws in the US. Vermont passed a similar law earlier this year.
Estimates for the cost of mitigating climate change in New York have pegged the price tag for installing storm surge protection in the New York Harbor at $52 billion and for upgrading New York City’s sewer system to handle regular flooding at $100 billion.
Protections on Long Island could cost between $75 and $100 billion, and infrastructure protecting the rest of the state could cost $55 billion.
Scott Segal, a partner at the law firm Bracewell, which represents oil companies, refiners and other major energy companies, told Landmark that “imposing retroactive liability on companies for legally-conducted business activities” would set a “troubling precedent.”
The law could harm New York’s business environment, raise energy prices and it would be better to focus on policies that incentivize clean energy, he said.
“Unlike its namesake federal statute that dealt with waste activities, the use of fossil fuels is and was an essential component of maintaining quality of life in New York and elsewhere,” he added.
Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said in a statement that the law will “supercharge efforts to make polluters pay instead of taxpayers.”
Siegel also urged California to pass similar legislation, which could help counter the oil-friendly policies expected from President-elect Donald Trump.
“The whole country is looking for leaders to protect us and the environment from Trump’s coddling of corporate polluters,” Siegel said.
Good luck with that the reason im saying that is because i have a plan to remove 40Gwk from the South African power grid that would say the following will be removed co2 36000 ton and coal 18000 ton per day and guess what no company wants to back me because for all of them the will lose money but i support what you guys want to do