The Climate Superfund Act, which became law in 2024, marks a first-in-the-nation effort to hold the world’s largest polluters responsible for the mess they have made.

The law is modeled on the federal EPA Superfund program, which has helped clean up – at the polluters’ expense – over a thousand toxic waste sites across the country, including several in the Green Mountains. The legislation requires the largest fossil fuel companies that had a business presence in Vermont from 1995-2024 to pay for a share of climate change costs proportional to their emissions . 

The Vermont Climate Superfund would then provide funding for disaster response and climate change adaptation projects in the state, including nature-based solutions and flood protections, upgrading stormwater infrastructure, and making proactive upgrades to transit systems to make them more resilient to the impacts of the climate crisis.

The law will likely be challenged in court by the fossil fuel industry, but lawmakers are confident they did their due diligence.

“We know that Big Oil will fight this in the courts,” said Representative Martin LaLonde (South Burlington), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, “But, as an attorney myself, and having worked closely with many legal scholars in shaping the bill, I believe we have a solid legal case. Most importantly, the stakes are too high – and the costs too steep for Vermonters – to release corporations that caused the mess from their obligation to help clean it up.” 

We’ll keep you posted about updates to the Climate Superfund