Vermont becomes 1st state to enact law requiring oil companies pay for damage from climate change
Vermont has become the first state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by climate change after the state suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather
Vermont has become the first state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by climate change after the state suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott allowed the bill to become law without his signature late Thursday, saying he's concerned about the costs and outcomes of the small state taking on “Big Oil” alone.
“Instead of coordinating with other states like New York and California, with far more abundant resources, Vermont – one of the least populated states with the lowest GDP in the country – has decided to recover costs associated with climate change on its own,” Scott wrote in a letter to lawmakers. But he said he understands the desire to seek funding to mitigate the damages caused by climate change that has hurt Vermont «in so many ways.”
Last July's flooding from 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. Some saw it as the state’s worst natural disaster since a 1927 flood that killed dozens of people and caused widespread destruction. It took months for businesses — from restaurants to shops — to rebuild, losing out on their summer and even fall seasons. Several have just recently reopened while scores of homeowners were left with flood-ravaged homes heading into the cold season.
Under the legislation, the Vermont state treasurer, in
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