Forest’s Climate News
In the final days of December last year, the state of New York approved their new “Climate Change Superfund Act”, a measure that will make Big Oil companies pay more to help clean up the damage they have done. The act will force the biggest oil companies to pay a total of $75 billion over the next 25 years.
Costs for repairing damage caused by climate change have continued to add up for the state, and a new act is supposed to help with this significantly. As estimated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it will cost $52 billion to protect New York Harbor. This adds to costs of up to $100 billion to protect Long Island, and another $55 billion across the rest of the state. It is predicted by the state Comptroller that over half of local governments’ cost will be used for the climate crisis. Over a period of 26 years, the world’s top 21 largest polluting companies are at fault for $5.4 trillion in climate damages, and while most of these costs are thrust upon taxpayers in the form of climate damage bills, since January of 2021, Big Oil has had $1 trillion in profit.
The Climate Change Superfund Act is also quite popular; 89% of New Yorkers support fossil fuel emitting companies paying for at least some of the cost of climate change. Other polls have found that 70% of voters in NY support the Superfund, with majorities stretching across party lines. Nationally, the Climate Superfund approach has gained support from 89% of Democratic voters, and 53% of NY voters have been found to be more likely to vote for candidates who support a Climate Superfund bill. Some of this may be due to the fact that many economists, including the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU law run by Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz say that the costs these Big Oil companies will have to pay will not fall back on consumers.
All things considered, the Climate Change Superfund Act is an important step in keeping the companies that cause the climate crisis accountable for what they have done, and will be very successful, especially given the support of citizens of New York. This is a great example of what state-level legislation can do to help solve the climate crisis, and in my opinion should be a great example for other states of what we can and must do amidst a federal administration that will likely favor fossil fuel companies in the battle against pollution.
