Vermont passes bill to charge fossil fuel companies for damage from climate change
www.nbcnews.com
The legislation — the first of its kind in the U.S. — would require companies with high emissions to help pay for destruction caused by climate-fueled extreme weather.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/9342183

I’ll note that it hasn’t yet been signed by the Republican governor, but it passed the legislature with a margin large enough to override his veto.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    1·
    7 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Vermont’s bill, referred to as its Climate Superfund Act, would similarly mandate that big oil companies and others with high emissions pay for damage caused by global warming.

    State Sen. Anne Watson, a co-sponsor of the bill, said she hopes that if the law goes into effect, it pushes big oil companies “to become purveyors of renewable energy sources and keep fossil fuels in the ground.”

    Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., also tried to introduce comparable legislation at the federal level, as part of the infrastructure bill passed in 2022, but that didn’t make it into the final draft.

    The bill hinges on the ability to assess how much damage in Vermont has been caused by climate change — an accounting that would rely on a line of research known as attribution science.

    Over the last 20 years, researchers have honed their ability to confidently model the degree to which human influence has contributed to the severity and frequency of extreme weather.

    “The science linking climate change to severe weather damage is robust enough to withstand scrutiny,” she added.

    The original article contains 934 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!