Vermont Looks To Pass Law Requiring Fossil Fuels Companies To Pay For Climate Doom

I wonder how the state will operate when the fossil fuels companies simply stop operating in the state? What happens with all the boats, planes, cars, trucks, tractors, and natural gas for heating? Or, that they simply pass the costs on to consumers and fuels costs start to look like California?

Vermont advances bill requiring fossil fuel companies pay for damage caused by climate change

The Vermont Legislature is advancing legislation requiring big fossil fuel companies pay a share of the damage caused by climate change after the state suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather.

The state Senate is expected to give final approval this week to the proposal, which would create a program that fossil fuel companies would pay into for climate change adaption projects in Vermont. It will then be considered in the House.

“In order to remedy the problems created by washed out roads, downed electrical wires, damaged crops and repeated flooding, the largest fossil fuel entities that have contributed to climate change should also contribute to fixing the problem that they caused,” Sen. Nader Hashim, a Democrat from Windham County, said to Senate colleagues on Friday.

Maryland, Massachusetts and New York are considering similar measures, but Vermont’s bill is moving quicker through the Legislature.

Critics, including Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who is up against a veto-proof Democratic majority, warn that it could be a costly legal battle for the small state to go first.

Well, yes, it would be a major legal fight, and the lawyers for the companies are surely better than those of the state. Oh, and then there’s that thing called ex post facto. And might the lawyers for the fossil fuels companies argue that the state uses a ton of fossil fuels themselves, making them liable? How else does the government in Vermont clear the roads when it snows?

It’s a polluter-pays model affecting companies engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil fuel or refining crude oil attributable to more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions during the time period. The funds could be used by the state for such things as upgrading stormwater drainage systems; upgrading roads, bridges and railroads; relocating, elevating or retrofitting sewage treatment plants and making energy efficient weatherization upgrades to public and private buildings.

Yeah, well, good luck. You might not like the outcome.

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