MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – A lawsuit filed this week against the state of Vermont marks the first of an expected wave of litigation against states trying to hold the oil industry accountable for their role in climate change. As Calvin Cutler reports it comes as the state is also being challenged in court for not doing enough to fight climate change.
Vermont’s first-in-the-nation law was based on the federal Superfund Act, intending to hold industrial polluters accountable. The bill, which Governor Phil Scott allowed to become law without his signature, opens the door for the state to sue fossil fuel companies and recoup damages from extreme weather caused by climate change.
“To contribute on a proportional basis to make sure Vermont taxpayers are not footing the entirety of the bill,” said Anthony Iarrapino, a lawyer and lobbyist for the environmental advocacy group Conservation Law Foundation.
But on Monday The American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit in federal court calling the law unconstitutional. They claim states can only regulate greenhouse gases with the permission of the federal government. “That is unlawful and violates the structure of the U.S. Constitution. One state can’t try to regulate a global issue best left to the federal government,” said the chamber’s Tara Morrissey. She says if one state could sue, oil companies would have to raise prices elsewhere, hurting other states.
But the Conservation Law Foundation, which helped write the law, argues that absent federal action on the issue, states have to take the lead.
Because of the fossil fuel industry’s influence in Washington D.C. and the incoming Trump administration, the prospects for accountability for the fossil fuel industry is low,” Iarrapino said.
While this lawsuit is over whether Vermont has gone too far in fighting climate change, the state faces another lawsuit for falling short on climate action. CLF is suing the state for not meeting its 2025 pollution reduction requirements under the Global Warming Solutions Act, which allows individuals to sue the state for not meeting its emission targets.
But with newfound political power this session, Republicans plan to introduce legislation to remove the lawsuit provision or push back the timelines to something they say is politically, and financially feasible. “We need to be realistic about what technologies are available, what’s the affordability of these technologies for the climate, our family budgets, and our state budget,” said Senator-elect Scott Beck, R-Caledonia County.
There are still lots of unknowns here, including a timeline for the climate Superfund lawsuit. The benchmarks of the Global Warming Solutions Act — and how the state pays for them — will be a big focus when state lawmakers kick off the new biennium next week.