A proposal to hold oil companies liable for billions of dollars in climate damage has picked up Republican support as it moves through the Vermont Legislature.
The Vermont Senate voted 21-5 on Friday to advance the “Climate Superfund Act,” a bill that seeks to put a price on the climate damage associated with fossil fuel emissions from 2000 to 2020.
The legislation then would direct the state to recover those costs from the largest energy companies in proportion to how much pollution can be traced back to them. That money would go into a fund for climate adaptation and recovery.
At least four states are considering legislation, modeled after the federal Superfund program, that would collectively seek to recover hundreds of billions of dollars from large fossil fuel companies based on historic emissions. In New York, a similar bill passed the Senate last year before stalling out.
