Climate superfunds are gaining traction with Democratic state lawmakers despite ferocious resistance from Republicans and fossil fuel interests — and now, Minnesota is joining the push.
Minnesota legislators on Wednesday proposed legislation to make the largest fossil fuel companies pay for billions of dollars in climate-related damage tied to historical emissions from their products.
Climate superfund bills have been proposed in about a dozen other states, following the passage of 2024 laws in Vermont and New York. Federal funding cuts — especially to disaster assistance programs — have helped push lawmakers to seek new ways to pay for climate resilience.
Minnesota Rep. Athena Hollins, a deputy floor leader for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and a sponsor of the new climate superfund legislation, said the rising costs of flooding and other climate-fueled extreme weather have raised the question of “affordability.”
