What if the corporations contributing to the climate crisis were forced to pay to fix the mess they helped create? Rhode Island is proposing a new bill that would make dirty energy companies pay for climate-related damages rather than passing the cost onto taxpayers.
As per the Providence Journal, the proposed "Climate Superfund" bill would total the state's climate-related expenses since 2009 and require dirty energy companies to cover their share. This could cover costs like repairing roads damaged by coastal storms or upgrading stormwater systems to handle more frequent downpours.
"This bill seeks to make polluters pay for the damage that they have caused," said Rep. Jennifer Boylan, one of the bill's sponsors. "In Rhode Island, climate change is not a distant threat. It's happening right now." She pointed to extreme weather, rising insurance costs, and mounting infrastructure expenses as burdens taxpayers shouldn't have to bear alone.
The bill targets companies responsible for more than one billion tons of pollution between 1990 and 2024, although it's unclear which companies would be held liable. Rhode Island's Department of Environmental Management would be responsible for calculating the costs of climate response work and charging companies based on their emissions levels.
This isn't Rhode Island's first attempt to hold dirty energy companies accountable. In 2018, Rhode Island was the first state to take companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron to court, demanding compensation for the damage caused by their pollution. While that case and similar ones are still in the courts, states are now turning to legislative solutions — like this bill — as a way to address the financial burden of extreme weather linked to planet-warming gas pollution.
This bill mirrors laws recently enacted in New York and Vermont, which are modeled after the federal Superfund program that requires companies to fund toxic waste site cleanups. Similar measures are under consideration in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California, though legal challenges have already emerged in New York and Vermont.
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This kind of legislation hasn't come without opposition. Industry groups argue it unfairly penalizes dirty energy companies for selling legal products. "It is patently unfair to retroactively punish companies with punitive fees for producing fuels that were and remain legal," wrote Michael S. Giaimo, the American Petroleum Institute's Northeast region director.
Republican-led states have also claimed that any payments will result in higher costs for consumers.
Supporters, however, draw comparisons to past efforts that held tobacco companies accountable for misleading the public about health risks. Former state Rep. Aaron Regunberg, now with consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, emphasized that internal research by dirty energy companies has shown they were aware of the risks their products posed.
"These companies knew exactly what they were doing," he said. "They buried the negative impacts of their product, just like the tobacco companies did."
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If Rhode Island succeeds, it could ignite a nationwide push to make polluters pay for climate damage, shifting the financial burden away from communities and onto corporations. This could also drive investment in cleaner energy solutions, helping to curb future pollution.
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