Written By: Asha Younas and Erin Harty
Believe it or not, New York taxpayers have been paying for climate-related damages for decades. Last year taxpayers shelled out over $2 billion for cleanups from extreme weather, flood mitigation, resiliency efforts, and more. These costs are set to increase over the next few decades. So, who should pay?
The Climate Change Superfund Act is based on a principle we all learned in elementary school – you made the mess, you clean it up. Fossil fuel companies have known since the 1970’s about the effects of extracting and burning fossil fuels, but borrowed the tactics of the tobacco industry to convince people the problem wasn’t real.
Powerful lobbyists might try to convince you that this would increase prices at the pump or your utility bills. Luckily, the Climate Change Superfund Act would place an annual fee on the top polluting companies based on past emissions, and since the price of oil is set by a global market, these companies have no power to increase costs on their own. Plus, a fee up to a few million dollars a year will have little to no impact on a company like ExxonMobil that makes $6.3 million an hour in profits.
Since before we were born, our financial and environmental futures have been set by oil and gas companies. The Climate Change Superfund Act would shift the burden from our pockets to theirs, and needs to be passed by Governor Hochul this year.