Sue Inches is an author, educator and environmental advocate from North Yarmouth.
She writes a regular blog on the environment at susanbinches.substack.com.
Fossil fuel companies are spewing billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the air every year. These gases rise and act like a blanket in the atmosphere, reflecting heat back toward the Earth, where it’s absorbed by the ocean. This is why the Gulf of Maine is one of the fastest warming bodies of water on the planet.
Our rising ocean temperatures are the root cause of more frequent and more severe storms. And these storms are costly. Flooding, high winds and falling trees have cost Maine electric ratepayers over $200 million in each of the past four years. We see these costs in our rising electric bills.
As storms and costs continue to increase, it’s time to hold fossil fuel companies accountable. Maine electric ratepayers should not pay for climate damage they did not cause. Nor should they pay for local infrastructure to protect downtowns, roads, bridges and sewage treatment plants from flooding.
This is the rationale behind “polluter pays” legislation, an important bill before the Legislature this month.
Introduced by state Sen. Stacy Brenner, the “Polluter Pays” bill (LD 1870) would charge fossil fuel companies a fee for climate damage they’ve caused in Maine. The funds would be deposited into a state “climate superfund” and used to pay for storm repair and strengthening local infrastructure.
You may be wondering how polluters will be assessed a pollution fee. Based on decades of research and using advanced computing, it’s now possible to accurately determine the cost attributed to each polluter. Large fossil fuel companies would be charged a fee, based on a formula. The formulas are now in place.
Establishing a state “climate superfund” is a bold move. But there’s legal precedent for it. Vermont and New York passed similar legislation in 2024. Ten other states, including Maine, are proposing similar legislation. This legislation is modeled on the national superfund law (the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act or CERCLA), which passed in 1980.
The national superfund law has been effective. Since it was enacted, 459 sites have been fully cleaned up, with many more in progress. But the national superfund law is limited to cleaning up land and water pollution. There is no law to clean up damage caused by atmospheric pollution. States are now stepping up to address this gap.
Maine’s LD 1870 is modeled on the Vermont climate superfund law. The bill calls for climate damage fees to be assessed retroactively — on emissions from 1994-2024. By making the damage assessment retroactive, the bill avoids the argument that states are regulating emissions, which are outside of state jurisdiction. Because it is retroactive, and because it addresses climate damage and not emissions, many legal experts believe LD 1870 will stand up to legal challenges.
Opponents have not been complacent, however. Lawsuits against Vermont and New
York have been filed by the American Petroleum Institute, a coalition of 22 attorneys general from red states, and now the Trump administration through the Department of Justice. The lawsuits claim that states are regulating emissions, and that this violates interstate commerce laws and the Clean Air Act.
State climate superfund laws and the fight to establish them represent an important paradigm shift. For too long fossil fuel companies have been allowed to externalize the costs of pollution. States and local communities (meaning you and me as taxpayers) end up paying the bill, while oil companies harvest massive profits. These new laws are a first step toward making polluters accountable for pollution they cause.
Once again, Maine is taking the lead on an important issue. Please email or call your state senator and representative and urge them to support LD 1870. Better yet, come to Augusta and stand with people who support this legislation. A demonstration at the Statehouse is scheduled for Jan. 27 from 8-11 a.m.
