A top Illinois lawmaker is pushing to make fossil fuel companies pay for climate adaptation costs — joining an expanding effort across state capitals that has drawn retaliation from the Trump administration.
The “Climate Change Superfund Act” would seek potentially billions of dollars from the largest fossil fuel producers and refiners, based on the historical emissions tied to their products between 2000 and 2024. That money would go toward hardened infrastructure, climate-resilient housing and other adaptation measures.
Illinois state House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel, the bill’s sponsor, called it a necessary response to both the mounting costs of climate change and the Trump administration’s denial of the problem.
“Each year we have more and more catastrophes,” the Democrat said in an interview. “We have to figure out how we’re going to pay for this. … The federal government is not doing anything, and we have to move as a state.”
