By Jonathan Allen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York state will fine fossil fuel companies a total of $75 billion over the next 25 years to pay for climate damage under legislation Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law on Thursday.
The intent of the law is to shift some of the costs of climate change recovery and adaptation from individual taxpayers to the oil, gas and coal companies that the law says are responsible. The money raised will be used to mitigate the effects of climate change, including adapting roads, transit, water and sewer systems, buildings and other infrastructure.
“New York has fired a shot that will be heard around the world: the companies most responsible for the climate crisis will be held accountable,” New York Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat who co-sponsored the bill, said in a statement.
Fossil fuel companies will be fined based on the amount of greenhouse gases they released into the atmosphere between 2000 and 2018, which will be paid into the Climate Superfund starting in 2028. It will apply to all companies that the New York Department of Conservation environment found to be responsible for more than 1 billion tons of global greenhouse gas emissions.
New York becomes the second state to pass such a law after Vermont passed its own version this summer. The laws are modeled after existing state and federal Superfund laws that require polluters to pay to clean up toxic waste.
Repairing the damage and adapting to extreme weather caused by climate change will cost New York more than $500 billion by 2050, Krueger said in her statement. Big oil companies have made more than $1 trillion in profits since January 2021 and have known since at least the 1970s that extracting and burning fossil fuels contributes to climate change, she said.
Energy companies are expected to file legal challenges to the new law, arguing that it takes precedence over federal law that regulates energy companies and polluters.
