Vermont is the first state to pass legislation requiring 'Big Oil' to pay for its share in the cost of climate change

A flooded road in Coventry, Vermont, pop. 1,100, on July 23, 2023.
(Adobe Stock photo)

Vermont has passed legislation to make oil producers pay a share of the costs associated with damages attributed to climate change, reports Lisa Rathke of The Associated Press. The state's popular Republican Gov. Phil Scott voiced concerns over the costs of the small state "taking on 'Big Oil' alone in what will likely be a grueling legal fight," but he recognized the pressing need to address the "toll of climate change."

In what some would call the state's worst disaster since 1927, last July's torrential rains "inundated Vermont's capital city of Montpelier, the nearby city Barre, some southern Vermont communities and ripped through homes and washed away roads around the rural state," Rathke writes. "Scores of homeowners were left with flood-ravaged homes heading into the cold season."

Vermont's approach is a polluter-pays model based on the federal Superfund pollution cleanup program. Unsurprisingly, oil companies are on the defensive. "The American Petroleum Institute, the top lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, has said it's extremely concerned about the legislation," Rathke reports. "Vermont lawmakers know the state will face legal challenges, but the governor worries about the costs and what it means for other states if Vermont fails. . . . Maryland, Massachusetts and New York are considering similar measures."

To gauge the cost of fossil fuels, the state treasurer, along with the Agency of Natural Resources, would "provide a report by Jan. 15, 2026, on the total cost to Vermonters and the state from the emission of greenhouse gases from Jan. 1, 1995, to Dec. 31, 2024," Rathke explains. The assessment will consider impacts on "public health, natural resources, agriculture, economic development, housing. . . and would use federal data to determine the amount of covered greenhouse gas emissions attributed to a fossil fuel company."