Vermont Defends Landmark Climate Law   03/31 06:10

   

   (AP) -- Vermont's effort to make fossil fuel companies pay for damage caused 
by climate change was tested Monday in a federal courtroom, where the state 
argued that two lawsuits challenging its groundbreaking 2024 law should be 
thrown out.

   Vermont became the first state to enact a climate superfund law, modeled on 
the federal superfund law that taxed petroleum and chemical companies to pay to 
clean up sites polluted by toxic waste. It took action after suffering 
catastrophic summer flooding in 2023 as well as damage from other extreme 
weather, which scientists say is occurring more frequently due to climate 
change. The money it collects would be used for climate adaptation projects, 
such as upgrades to stormwater drainage systems, sewage treatment plants and 
roads.

   The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a top oil and gas industry trade group, the 
American Petroleum Institute, sued Vermont over the law in December 2024, 
calling it unconstitutional and a violation of federal law. The Department of 
Justice also sued Vermont and New York after President Donald Trump ordered 
Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against states that may be 
overreaching their authority in how they regulate energy development. In suing, 
Bondi called Vermont's law and a similar one signed by New York's Democratic 
Gov. Kathy Hochul "burdensome and ideologically motivated" and said they 
threaten American energy independence and national security.

   Vermont insists its law doesn't conflict with federal law or policy

   In asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuits Monday, Vermont argued that it has 
the authority to raise revenue, protect the health and welfare of its citizens 
and mitigate environmental harms. The state also said that the law does not 
conflict with federal law or policy, regulate fossil fuel emissions or punish 
fossil fuel producers.

   "As a sovereign state, Vermont gets to do certain things that are exercises 
of a traditional state authority. The Superfund Act operates squarely in those 
areas of traditional state authority," Jonathan Rose of the Vermont attorney 
general's office said in U.S. District Court in Rutland.

   The plaintiffs in both cases, however, argue that Vermont can't legally 
impose liability or penalties on out-of-state energy producers for harms 
arising from out-of-state and global greenhouse gas emissions.

   "This case is not about Vermont's ability to raise revenue and protect the 
health and welfare of its residents. It's about Vermont's attempt to subject 
global energy production activity to Vermont law, which brazenly disregards the 
constitutional division of power in the federal government and the states," 
said DOJ attorney Riley Walters.

   While other courts have allowed the application of a state law to 
out-of-state conduct, those cases involved direct and traceable connections 
between the behavior and the harm, he said.

   "It's impossible to trace in-state harm to any particular source of 
greenhouse gas emissions, let alone to the fossil fuel production that is even 
further down along the alleged causal chain," he said. "There is not a direct 
and traceable connection between oil that's extracted in Texas or in Saudi 
Arabia and a flood or some other weather event that takes place in Vermont."

   Two dozen other states that oppose Vermont's law have intervened in the case

   West Virginia, a top producer of natural gas and coal, is leading two dozen 
states intervening in the case with the Chamber and API, out of concern that 
Vermont will demand to recover billions of dollars from major energy producers 
and oil refiners in their states. Meanwhile, the Conservation Law Foundation, 
an environmental advocacy group in New England, and the Northeast Organic 
Farming Association of Vermont are supporting Vermont in the litigation.

   Attorney Adeline Rolnick, representing the conservation foundation and 
farmers, told the judge Monday that granting the plaintiffs' motions to strike 
down the law "would give the federal government this roving license to seek to 
enjoin any state law that it disagrees with simply by pleading preemption.

   "That would be quite an expansion of the federal role in our state-federal 
system, and the court should instead require the United States to show concrete 
imminent injury like any other litigant," she said.

   Judge Mary Kay Lanthier took the motions under advisement and said she would 
issue rulings as soon as possible.

   The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said that it's looking forward to a decision in 
the case. Marty Durbin, president of the Global Energy Institute at the 
chamber, said that "Vermont's attempt to impose massive retroactive penalties 
on energy producers will be disastrous for American families."

   "Reliable, affordable energy helps power economic growth and enhances the 
quality of life for American families and communities," he said in a statement. 
"It defies logic that Vermont would pursue gigantic penalties from companies 
who are meeting consumer and business demand for this essential resource."

   Republican Gov. Phil Scott allowed the bill to become law without his 
signature, saying he was concerned about Vermont taking on the oil industry 
alone. Since then, the idea has gained traction elsewhere. In addition to New 
York, other Democratic-controlled states are also considering climate superfund 
laws, while others are seeking damages from fossil fuel companies in state 
courts for harms caused by climate change.

   "This is the first time that a state legislature has taken the gigantic step 
of pursuing polluters and holding them accountable to clean up the mess that 
they've made," said Jennifer Rushlow, interim vice president for CLF Vermont.

   A Dartmouth College research team estimated the world's biggest corporations 
have caused $28 trillion in climate damage. The researchers published a study 
last year with the estimated pollution caused by 111 companies, with more than 
half the total dollar figure coming from 10 fossil fuel providers.