ICYMI: Assembly Member Solages Calls for Leg to Protect Long Island Taxpayers & Make Corporate Polluters Pay

LONG ISLAND, NY (06/05/2023) (readMedia)-- In a new op-ed today in Gotham Gazette, Assembly Member Michaelle Solages urges the NYS Legislature to pass the Climate Change Superfund Act before the end of session. This first-in-the-nation legislation will put Big Oil, who is still driving the climate crisis, on the hook for climate damages and resiliency. Currently, taxpayers are footing the bill for this mess – and have had to fork over $800 million so far this year for projects related to climate damages and resilience.

Solages writes, "The Long Island Regional Planning Council is projecting $75 to $100 billion out of taxpayers' pockets for new roads and other infrastructure improvements, thanks to worsening storms and sea level rise. That's right – tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to elevate our streets (where they have been washed away from intense storms), build new bridges, and upgrade our septic systems and storm drains to protect them against future flooding.

Many of us who live on Long Island have already experienced this kind of flooding. We need this infrastructure to protect against tragedies like Hurricane Sandy, which took 13 lives and damaged or destroyed 100,000 homes. Suffolk County experienced seven natural disaster declarations in the last decade - the most of any county in the state. And while we have to suffer and pay for these consequences, Big Oil companies are getting richer."

Solages also details why this legislation is especially critical to support the communities with the highest cost burden from climate change: "We're all impacted by climate change, but Black, Latino, Asian, and low-income communities bear the brunt of it. Natural disasters aren't just the weather themselves - they're worsened by social, political, and economic stressors. Low-income communities experience greater challenges evacuating due to the cost of transportation and relocation. But when people stay, they experience increased health risks including contaminated water and interrupted access to medical care and food. On top of that, because of the increased risk of asthma, heart disease, and other chronic health problems that low-income and communities of color experience (also because of other environmental injustice), these communities are especially vulnerable to storm hazards.

And of course, after the flood, cleanup is expensive and leads to increased debt, partly because people in poverty are less likely to have flood insurance. According to the Urban Institute, after four years, a medium-sized disaster causes a 31-point decline in credit scores for people living in communities of color, whereas people living in white communities only experienced a 4-point decline."

Read the full op-ed here or pasted below.

Why We Must Pass the Climate Change Superfund Act Before the End of Legislative Session
June 05, 2023 | by Michaelle Solages

Climate change is eating Long Island away, and is projected to raise our sea level to more than 50% higher than the global average. If those estimates are correct, that means large portions of Jones Beach will disappear by 2050, the north and south ends will become their own islands by 2080, and Fire Island will almost completely wash away by the end of the century.

Protecting Long Islanders' homes from this kind of irreparable climate damage is possible – but climate change is already costing taxpayers an arm and a leg. It is a cost that we should not have to pay.

There's a solution to this problem making its way through the New York State Legislature right now - a plan that would take the burden off of taxpayers and put those who created this climate catastrophe on the hook instead. That bill is the Climate Change Superfund Act. The act makes the worst corporate climate polluters – Big Oil – pay. It should be on Albany's "must do" list as we head into the last days of the legislative session.

Just this year, New Yorkers statewide have been forced to pay around $800 million for projects related to climate damages and resiliency projects. It's only going to get worse.

The Long Island Regional Planning Council is projecting $75 to $100 billion out of taxpayers' pockets for new roads and other infrastructure improvements, thanks to worsening storms and sea level rise. That's right – tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to elevate our streets (where they have been washed away from intense storms), build new bridges, and upgrade our septic systems and storm drains to protect them against future flooding.

Many of us who live on Long Island have already experienced this kind of flooding. We need this infrastructure to protect against tragedies like Hurricane Sandy, which took 13 lives and damaged or destroyed 100,000 homes. Suffolk County experienced seven natural disaster declarations in the last decade - the most of any county in the state. And while we have to suffer and pay for these consequences, Big Oil companies are getting richer.

The top Big Oil companies are on track for a second consecutive year of record profits. Across the globe, Big Oil companies are performing much better than expected this year, following last year's record-breaking profits totaling $376 billion. These companies want you to believe that they're investing in clean and renewable energy sources. Don't buy the smoke and mirrors.

They fund climate science denial while pushing greenwashing advertising. Big Oil wants us to believe they have our wellbeing at heart, but their actions racked up a tab of $5.4 trillion in climate damages worldwide over just 26 years. Even worse, they knew that they were driving the climate catastrophe as early as the 1970s. And now, even after all of this has come to light, they evade any sort of real accountability.

We're all impacted by climate change, but Black, Latino, Asian, and low-income communities bear the brunt of it. Natural disasters aren't just the weather themselves - they're worsened by social, political, and economic stressors. Low-income communities experience greater challenges evacuating due to the cost of transportation and relocation. But when people stay, they experience increased health risks including contaminated water and interrupted access to medical care and food. On top of that, because of the increased risk of asthma, heart disease, and other chronic health problems that low-income and communities of color experience (also because of other environmental injustice), these communities are especially vulnerable to storm hazards.

And of course, after the flood, cleanup is expensive and leads to increased debt, partly because people in poverty are less likely to have flood insurance. According to the Urban Institute, after four years, a medium-sized disaster causes a 31-point decline in credit scores for people living in communities of color, whereas people living in white communities only experienced a 4-point decline.

On Long Island, we already know what it's like to pay more than our fair share. We pay through the nose in property taxes. And now we have to deal with the exponentially increasing risk of flood damage to our homes because of a mess we didn't make - on top of raised taxes for climate change infrastructure? It's criminal.

Experts have already proven that making polluters pay for their fare share of this mess won't result in those costs being passed onto consumers. We can't afford to pay for climate change, and we shouldn't have to. Let's make corporate climate polluters pay by passing the Climate Change Superfund Act.

Background

The Climate Change Superfund Act is modeled on the existing toxics superfund law (which deals with land and drinking water contamination) that makes corporate climate polluters financially responsible for the environmental damages that they have caused. These costs wouldn't fall back on consumers, according to an analysis from the think tank Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU Law.

According to a new study in One Earth, the world's 21 top polluting companies are responsible for $5.4 trillion in climate damages over a period of 26 years. Just this year alone in New York State, taxpayers have already been asked to pay more than $800 Million so far for projects related to climate damages and resilience. On top of that, according to the State Comptroller's office, the City planned to spend another $829 million on projects fully intended for climate change adaptation and resilience in FY 2023. The City also planned to spend an additional $1.3 billion on projects that are partially for these purposes.

Meanwhile, while the bills pile up for taxpayers, the industry responsible for this mess is raking in cash. The top Big Oil companies in the U.S. are on track for a second consecutive year of record profits, and the industry globally is performing much better than expected. 2022 was a record profit year for the industry, with the top companies' combined profits reaching an astounding $376 billion. Those record profits allowed them to deliver unprecedented returns to shareholders while doing little to address the climate crisis they knew was coming, but did all they could to undermine climate action. Starting in the 1970s, scientists working for Exxon made "remarkably accurate projections of just how much burning fossil fuels would warm the planet." Yet for years, "the oil giant publicly cast doubt on climate science, and cautioned against any drastic move away from burning fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change."

Big Oil is at fault for climate change, and it can certainly afford the costs - which are uniquely necessary - and expensive - in New York. A new report from Rebuild by Design "Atlas of Disaster: New York State'' identifies the impacts of recent climate disasters across New York State at the county level, for the years 2011-2021. The data shows that every single county in New York has experienced a federal climate disaster between 2011-2021, with 16 having five or more disasters during that time. In that decade, more than 100 New Yorkers died as a result of climate-driven disasters. In 2022 that number grew exponentially when Winter Storm Elliot in Buffalo killed 39 people.

In a separate report, Rebuild by Design estimated that the climate costs to New York could be $55 billion by the end of this decade. Furthermore, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimated that it would cost $52 billion to protect NY Harbor alone. And while storms get worse, sea levels are rising and groundwater poses a higher risk of flooding - and we don't even know how much yet. Clearly, New York is facing staggering – and growing – climate costs.

The Climate Change Superfund Act isn't just necessary – it's popular. According to a poll from Data for Progress, 89% of New Yorkers support fossil fuel companies covering at least some of the cost for climate damages. 200+ groups including key labor unions such as DC37 sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Heastie urging them to include the bill in the one house budgets. In their letter, the groups write that the fossil fuel industry should be subject to the state's climate costs since their "decisions led to global warming; justice requires that they-not New York's other taxpayers-be financially responsible for the tragically enormous climate crisis impacts that they created."

The Act was included in the Senate One-House budget bill and has already passed the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee. Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins indicated support for making polluters pay earlier last week, saying on the Senate Floor:

"We will never burden everyday New Yorkers in our climate fight, or ask them to give up more than our greatest polluters."

Comptroller Brad Lander sent a letter to Albany leadership calling on them to support the Climate Change Superfund Act and protect NYC taxpayers. In the letter, he wrote:

"[Climate] costs are particularly high in New York City. According to a recent study from Moody's Analytics, "New York City, in particular, faces the possibility of significant losses from rising sea-level rise given that Manhattan is surrounded by water and frequent flooding could prove crippling to an economy where much activity - and the ability to travel – is tied to low-lying land or subway tunnels." Another recent study from First Street Foundation found that New York City faces the greatest rise in risk of catastrophic hurricane damage over the next 30 years, more than any other city in the country. Average annual losses from hurricanes alone will skyrocket from around $2.1 million this year to $8 million every year in three decades. That's on top of the $52 billion the Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to protect New York Harbor alone, and another $55 billion experts are predicting will be necessary to protect the rest of the state over the next decade. That's more than $100 billion in spending for climate change, out of taxpayers' pockets."