Vermont legislature passes bill to charge fossil fuel companies for damage from climate change

Inb4 oil companies sue Vermont to prevent this.

I'm waiting for big oil to start blaming the consumers again for their damages.

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.

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Vermont legislature passes bill to charge customers of fossil fuel companies for damage from climate change

Fixed the headline. Any charges will simply be passed on to customers at the pump, along with an extra couple of cents to recoup costs associated with this fee line their pockets.

Whether or not you're in favor of at least making somebody pay for the damage from climate change through a bill like this is one thing, but don't for a second think this will actually impact the oil companies at all. They'll just tack that on to the cost of gas, along with a couple of extra cents, and probably come out making more money than before.

If they want to start talking serious money, start taxing gross profits with no way to earn tax breaks or incentives to avoid it.

Sounds like Vermont gas prices are going up. That's what happened in Seattle when similar legislation was passed.

EDIT: Just to be clear, I wasn't making any value judgements in my original comment. Of course it's not fun to pay more for gas, though I'm happy to do it if the money actually goes to green energy initiatives. Maybe it's obvious to some people, but it seems somewhat deceptive to say that oil companies would be punished when really it is just a cost passed on to the consumer. This legislation won't affect profits.