REP. NADLER, SEN. KRUEGER, AM DINOWITZ, + NYPIRG: HOLD BIG OIL ACCOUNTABLE, MAKE CLIMATE POLLUTERS PAY!

NEW YORK, NY (02/26/2023) (readMedia)-- At Chelsea Piers, which is at risk of climate-driven flooding without major infrastructure upgrades, elected officials and advocates gathered to urge Albany leadership to make polluters pay! As the NYS legislature writes their one house budget bills, the group urged them to include the Climate Change Superfund Act (S.2192 Krueger/A.3351 Dinowitz) so that big oil companies, not taxpayers, are held financially responsible for the growing climate damages facing the state.

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"Climate change is the biggest health threat facing humanity. For too long, the corporations most responsible for polluting our planet have turned massive profits while the American taxpayers have been left to foot the bill for the health, climate, and economic consequences of their actions," said U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler. "That's why I am proud to call on Albany to step up and pass State Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz's Climate Change Superfund Act. This bill will make the biggest historical producers of fossil fuels pay their fair share to fund the state's response to the climate crisis they helped cause. I was proud to co-lead a similar initiative with Representative Bowman in the House last year. I look forward to introducing this legislation at the federal level in the near future."

"New York has suffered billions of dollars in damages due to the willful negligence of fossil fuel polluters. This critically important piece of legislation will hold fossil fuel companies accountable and responsible for providing the necessary funding for the climate change adaptation work that must be done to save lives and protect our communities. At a time of record profits for the oil and gas industry and unprecedented damage to our planet, New Yorkers should not be forced to clean up the mess of large fossil fuel corporations. The Climate Change Superfund Act must make it into this year's budget," said U.S. Representative Daniel Goldman.

Last year, a federal proposal to make polluters pay championed by Reps Bowman and Nadler received support from over 40 members of the House of Representatives. While the proposal didn't make it through Congress, this year, the members of New York's congressional delegation are supporting the Climate Change Superfund Act in New York. The pair voiced their support in an op-ed this weekend in the New York Daily News.

The legislation assesses the largest greenhouse gas emitters to pay $3 billion annually for the next 25 years to offset the expected tens of billions of dollars in expected climate damages that will have to be paid by the state. The legislation is modeled on the existing toxics superfund law (which deals with land and drinking water contamination) that makes 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.

"No matter what actions we take to tackle the climate crisis going forward, New York State faces billions of dollars in damages over the next three decades from baked-in climate-driven weather events. The question we face in Albany is who should pay to deal with those threats – taxpayers and New York businesses, or the biggest oil companies that got us here in the first place? As we all learned in kindergarten, if you make a mess, you clean it up. The biggest multinational oil companies made this mess – they are the ones, not New Yorkers, who should foot the bill to clean it up," said State Senator Liz Krueger, sponsor of the Climate Change Superfund legislation.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, sponsor of the Climate Change Superfund legislation, said: "The climate crisis is upon us, and it's past time for the corporations who are most responsible for it to clean up their mess. Fossil fuel companies knew that their pollution would lead to more extreme weather events, and they intentionally buried the research for the sake of their profits. The revenues raised from New York's biggest climate polluters could help pay for vital infrastructure to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change, and we must include it in the state budget this year."

"This month alone, Governor Hochul announced nearly $750 million in taxpayer funding for storm repairs and climate-related infrastructure upgrades. Over the next decade, these costs will wrack up to $100 billion. Big oil companies knew they were making this mess for decades, so why are everyday people still expected to foot the bill? It's simple: Albany leadership can lead the nation by making polluters pay," said Blair Horner, Executive Director of NYPIRG.

2022 was a record profit year for big oil, with the top companies' combined profits reaching an astounding $215 billion. In order to make these massive profits, big oil companies blamed the war in Ukraine, using the human rights crisis to price-gouge consumers. Meanwhile, they delivered unprecedented returns to shareholders while doing little to address the climate crisis they knowingly created. 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. More than 100 New Yorkers died as a result of climate-driven disasters. 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. Earlier this month, 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."

"At the federal level, I have been a consistent fighter in working to address some of the most significant environmental challenges that stem from our planet's rapidly changing climate," said Rep. Ritchie Torres. "But there's always more we should and can be doing at every level of government, including passing the Climate Change Superfund Act for New York. Those who are responsible for warming our atmosphere should be responsible for contributing to the infrastructure investments that are required to mitigate the effects. It's time to make the polluters pay."

"We are hurtling towards an environmental catastrophe due to the irresponsible and unregulated actions of fossil fuel companies. Unless we reduce carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, we will ensure the irreversible and disastrous effects of climate change. It's time to make our biggest polluters pay. I applaud Representative Nadler, Senator Krueger, and Assembly Member Dinowitz for championing the Climate Change Superfund Act, which will ensure that taxpayers don't bear the financial burden of climate change caused by corporations that profit off destruction," said State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal.

"In 2022, New York State experienced over 40 severe storms, costing the state billions of dollars and, more importantly, New Yorkers' lives. The state's worst climate polluters-major oil companies-should have to pay for the harm they've caused. The Climate Change Superfund Act would charge toxic polluters to help compensate our cities and state for part of the costs of coping with the climate crisis. New Yorkers have paid once with flooded subways, collapsed roofs, and lost lives-they shouldn't have to foot the clean-up bill too," said Stephen Edel, NY Renews.

Background

The Climate Change Superfund Act (S.2129 Krueger/A.3351 Dinowitz) requires companies most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions to pay a total of $75 billion over twenty-five years ($3 billion annually) for the environmental damage they have done. The funds allow New Yorkers to invest in massive and life-saving infrastructure improvements, upgrade stormwater drainage and sewage treatment systems, prepare the power grid for severe weather, create systems to protect people from extreme heat, and respond to environmental and public health threats.