Lawmakers Weigh Financial Accountability for Climate Disasters
In a move that could set significant financial precedents, state lawmakers are deliberating over a proposed bill that would see the world’s largest oil and gas companies financially accountable for the costs associated with climate-related disasters.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Facing the challenge of repairing infrastructure like roads and piers damaged by increasingly severe storms, Maine legislators are considering a climate superfund bill. This initiative aims to levy fines on major fossil fuel companies for historical environmental damage.
Following the footsteps of Vermont and New York, which enacted similar legislation in 2024, states such as Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island are also contemplating comparable measures this year.
The proposed bill in Maine, known as L.D. 1870, recently passed a committee review. It targets companies responsible for over 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions between 1995 and 2024, redirecting funds from fines to various climate resilience and mitigation projects across the state.
This proposal is inspired by the federal Superfund program, which was established in 1980 to hold polluters accountable for cleaning up hazardous waste sites.
Proponents, including Jack Shapiro, the climate and clean energy director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, argue that it is logical for fossil fuel companies to bear the costs of damages wrought by their emissions. “The responsible parties contemplated by the bill in Maine and in other states are really the world’s largest polluters, and in many cases have been documented to have understood the impacts of the pollution associated with their products,” Shapiro stated.
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However, the legislation has met with opposition due to legal hurdles faced by similar laws in other states. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute challenged Vermont’s law in December 2024, and a coalition of industry groups and Republican-led states contested New York’s law in February 2025.
These legal challenges argue that such state laws are unconstitutional, asserting that greenhouse gas emissions are governed by federal law, not state law. The states involved counter that their aim is not to regulate fossil fuel burning but to assess the costs of past emissions and use fines for climate adaptation projects.
Last April, President Donald Trump issued an executive order labeling Vermont and New York’s climate superfund laws as “state overreach” and “extortion,” prompting federal lawsuits against these states to prevent them from seeking damages from fossil fuel companies.
Sean Mahoney, vice president for Maine at the Conservation Law Foundation, highlighted the core issue, stating, “Do the states have the authority to seek redress from these companies for the harms associated with the products that they sold, knowing that there would be adverse consequences?”
Opponents argue that the legislation retroactively penalizes companies for legal activities, namely fossil fuel burning, with the legality of such fines pending court decisions.
In the meantime, Vermont is proceeding with its law’s implementation by assessing the financial impact of greenhouse gas emissions from 1995 to 2024 using attribution modeling from Dartmouth and other researchers.
Maine plans to adopt a similar strategy, quantifying emissions costs and identifying responsible companies among the largest fossil fuel emitters with business ties to Maine. Companies like ExxonMobil, which operates gas stations in Maine, would be held accountable under this framework, according to Shapiro, while others like Saudi Aramco may not face state-level accountability.
This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: themainemonitor.org
Original Story at www.newscentermaine.com