Right as the year ended, Brad Molotsky of Duane Morris wrote that
“New York passes second in the nation ‘Polluter Pays’ Superfund type law – $75B fund to be created for infrastructure projects by attempting to hold fossil fuel companies strictly liable for past actions. As of December 27, 2024, New York becomes the second state in the US, after Vermont, to pass a version of a polluter pays climate change bill entitled the ‘Climate Change Superfund Act‘ (the ‘CCSA’)… [which] requires the State Comptroller along with the Department of Taxation, to report, by January 2026, on the costs to residents and the State from greenhouse gas emissions that occurred between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2018. This comprehensive assessment is intended to include impacts on agriculture, biodiversity, ecosystem services, education, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, housing, real estate, retail, tourism, transportation, and municipal and local government, using federal data to attribute emissions to specific greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuel companies. The fund to be raised from the CCSA is $75 Billion Dollars. These funds, when collected from the responsible parties, will be thereafter used to help fund climate change adaptive infrastructure projects.”
I expect lawsuits to follow soon. This could get really interesting.
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