Nearly a year after catastrophic flooding struck Vermont, the city of Barre confronts the overwhelming task of steeling itself for the next climate disaster.
Vermont
How ruinous floods put Vermont at the forefront of the climate battle
Across the country, state and local leaders are scrambling to find the money they need to protect their communities from worsening disasters fueled by climate change. For Barre, needed flood mitigation projects will cost the city an estimated $30 million over the next five years, Lauzon said.
Yet Vermont has a new answer to this problem.
Earlier this month, it became the nation’s first state to require fossil fuel companies and other big emitters to pay for the climate-related damage their pollution has already caused statewide. While conservative legal experts are skeptical the law will survive challenges, some Vermonters said they are both grateful and a little nervous that one of the nation’s least populous states has picked a fight with one of America’s most powerful industries.
“I’m proud to have this state stand up and say, ‘Look, you need to be held accountable, and you need to help us with the damage we incurred,’” Lauzon said. “But I’m also scared to death. I feel like we’re a pee wee football team going up against the 2020 New England Patriots.”
The Vermont law comes as oil and gas companies face dozens of climate lawsuits, both in the United States and abroad. While none of the state and local lawsuits have gone to trial yet — including Vermont’s own challenge, filed in 2021 — they pose a growing threat and add to the companies’ potential liabilities. If Vermont’s novel approach endures, it could reverberate across the industry.
Republicans are pushing back, arguing that individual states cannot apply their own laws to a global pollutant. Last month, Republican attorneys general in 19 states asked the Supreme Court to block the climate change lawsuits brought by California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island against fossil fuel companies.
Vermont’s law authorizes the state to charge major polluters a fee for the share of greenhouse gas emissions they produced between 1995 and 2024. It is modeled on the 1980 federal Superfund law, which forces polluting companies to clean up toxic waste sites.
The law doesn’t spell out how much money should be paid; instead, it tasks the state treasurer with assessing the damage Vermont has suffered from climate change and what it will cost to prepare for future impacts. The final tally is expected to be comprehensive, factoring in an array of possible costs from rebuilding and raising bridges and roads to lower worker productivity from rising heat.
Bills similar to Vermont’s have been introduced in several states, including California, Maryland and Massachusetts. Last week, New York lawmakers passed a climate superfund law that would require polluters to pay $3 billion a year for 25 years. It is now awaiting Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature.
The timing of the Vermont law was no accident, said Ben Edgerly Walsh, the climate and energy program director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. Memories of last July’s flooding — which inundated the state capitol of Montpelier, damaged thousands of homes and trapped people in small mountain towns — are still fresh.
Over the last year, Vermonters have also endured a freak late-spring frost that damaged crops, hazy skies from smoke blown south from hundreds of wildfires in Canada, and more flooding in mid-December. All these events primed state lawmakers to tackle climate change at the beginning of 2024.
“When we brought this idea to legislators, they came to it with a very open mind in a way that may have taken more time, more convincing, in another year,” Edgerly Walsh said. “But this was a moment we just knew we needed to act.”
As disaster recovery costs mount, it has not been lost on state leaders that oil companies are enjoying massive profits. In 2023, the warmest year on record, the two largest U.S. energy companies, ExxonMobil and Chevron, together made more than $57 billion.
It might seem unlikely for a state like Vermont, with a population just under 650,000, to stand up to the fossil fuel industry. The state’s Republican governor, Phil Scott, expressed skepticism in a letter to the secretary of the Vermont Senate, writing, “Taking on ‘Big Oil’ should not be taken lightly. And with just $600,000 appropriated by the Legislature to complete an analysis that will need to withstand intense legal scrutiny from a well-funded defense, we are not positioning ourselves for success.”
Yet Vermont’s small budget — it has the lowest GDP in the country — means that it feels the rising risks from heavy rains more acutely than wealthier states. A report by Rebuild by Design, a nonprofit that helps communities recover from disasters, found that Vermont ranked fifth nationally in per capita disaster relief costs from 2011-2021, with $593 spent per resident.
The costs are only expected to climb. A 2022 study from University of Vermont researchers predicted that the cost of property damage from flooding alone may top $5.2 billion over the next 100 years.
Ultimately, the governor allowed the law to go into effect without his signature, saying he understood “the desire to seek funding to mitigate the effects of climate change that has hurt our state in so many ways.”
Legal challenges will inevitably follow — the only question is when.
The oil and gas industry’s top lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute, has said that states don’t have the power to regulate carbon pollution and can’t retroactively charge companies for emissions allowed under the law. It has also emphasized individuals’ responsibility for climate change, noting that Vermont residents use fossil fuels to heat their homes and power their cars. Scott Lauermann, a spokesman for the group, said API is “considering all our options to reverse this punitive new fee.”
“I think the courts are going to have problems with the idea that Vermont can penalize the companies for past actions that were completely legal and the state itself relies on,” said Jeff Holmstead, an energy lawyer who served in the Environmental Protection Agency under George W. Bush. “I’m skeptical this will actually pass muster.”
Supporters and environmentalists involved in drafting the law said they believed they had created a legally defensible way to recover damages from polluters by modeling it after the Superfund law, which has been repeatedly upheld in court. Several legal experts said the state had also taken a more conservative approach than others by requiring a study before assessing companies’ liability, ensuring the fines levied against them are proportional to the amount of damage caused by their products.
Cara Horowitz, executive director of the UCLA School of Law’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said that, inevitably, fossil fuel companies will challenge any bills Vermont submits for damages. But that is years off, she said, and the industry is likely to move sooner than that.
The lawsuits “will start soon and last a long time,” Horowitz said. “It would surprise me if they don’t preemptively try to undermine the entire exercise by declaring the whole thing unlawful.”
In Barre, Lauzon said he isn’t confident litigation over the law will be resolved in his lifetime. But even if the fossil fuel companies are never made to pay, he said, the law’s passage was the right thing to do.
“I can’t look at the north end, I can’t look at the city of Barre and say no one needs to be held accountable,” he said.
Vermont is, for many visitors, the postcard-perfect New England state. A part of the United States since 1791, the first to join the Union after the Thirteen Original Colonies, Vermont has many unique, and sometimes quirky, features. The place has attracted artists and other creative geniuses, some of them decidedly eccentric, from its earliest days. The natural parts of Vermont, like the famous Lake Champlain, offer unusual points of interest for visitors and locals alike. With a state as rich in traveling attractions, it should be little wonder that some of them come with a quirk or two.
Montpelier
Montpelier, while being Vermont’s charming capital, is the tiniest among all US state capitals with just around 8,000 residents. For comparison, the second-smallest, Pierre in South Dakota, has a population of about 14,000. Established in 1787, this historic town warmly welcomes visitors with a variety of landmarks, including the Vermont History Museum and the sprawling 200-acre Hubbard Park. The State House is also open to the public for tours. Just a short drive west, less than an hour away, lies Lake Champlain, one of the Northeast’s most beloved watersides.
The town’s name pays homage to Montpellier, a beautiful city in southern France. This naming reflected the high regard for France at the time, especially for their support during the US War of Independence. Interestingly, Montpelier has experienced its share of flooding, with significant damage occurring in the years 1927, 1992, and most recently in 2023.
Elmore
Elmore, a charming small town in Lamoille County with fewer than 900 residents, is a favorite spot for autumn leaf-peepers. Located north of Montpelier, this peaceful town has its own unique charm, including several local landmarks sharing the name ‘Elmore,’ which adds to its character. It’s important to note that Elmore town is separate from East Elmore. To the west, Elmore Mountain overlooks the area, while Elmore State Park lies just north of the town itself. Enjoying waterside beauty, Elmore Lake is often listed among Vermont’s most picturesque lakes, with its waters flowing into the Lamoille River through Elmore Pond Brook. Like Montpelier, Elmore is situated east of Lake Champlain. For those seeking a more bustling scene or a change of pace, the vibrant city of Burlington, just an hour’s drive west, makes for a perfect day trip or weekend getaway.
Stowe
Stowe, with a lively population of 5,300, is Vermont’s top spot for adrenaline seekers and the eccentrics among us, earning its reputation as the state’s premier ski and snowboard destination. The Stowe Mountain Resort proudly calls itself the “ski capital of the east”—that’s the eastern United States. Nestled near the breathtaking Mount Mansfield, Stowe offers more than just winter fun; warmer months bring plenty of activities like hiking and mountain biking in the beautiful Cady Hill Forest.
The town also has a rich history, being the home of Jake Burton Carpenter (1954-2019), the visionary behind Burton Snowboards and a trailblazer in making snowboarding an international sport. While some might have called him eccentric when he launched his company in 1977, today he’s celebrated as a true pioneer whose legacy keeps inspiring young snow sports enthusiasts, like those at Mount Mansfield Winter Academy, a special school dedicated to nurturing the next generation of champions.
Manchester
Manchester, a town with 4,500 residents located in southwest Vermont, is popular among art and architecture enthusiasts. It features Hildene, the estate of Abraham Lincoln’s son Robert, which boasts an impressive Georgian Revival house and grounds. The town’s American Museum of Fly Fishing showcases numerous rods, flies, and related gear, attracting many superstitious anglers. Manchester is also home to Orvis, a renowned fishing and clothing company. The Southern Vermont Arts Center hosts exhibitions, and includes a sculpture garden and performance space. Nature lovers should visit Mount Equinox, west of town, or explore the Green Mountain National Forest to the south.
Eccentric fact: Jonathan Goldsmith, known for portraying “The World’s Most Interesting Man” in Dos Equis commercials, resides in Manchester. Stay quirky, my friends.
Brattleboro
Brattleboro, with a population of 12,100, sits along the Connecticut River and features a variety of attractions and oddities. Located just west of New Hampshire—in which the Connecticut River forms the border—and just north of Massachusetts, the town is an ideal midpoint for exploring the wider New England region. Outdoor enthusiasts will appreciate Fort Dummer State Park, welcoming hikers, bikers, and campers alike. Among the more renowned eccentric figures in history, British writer Rudyard Kipling moved to Brattleboro after marrying a Vermont woman in 1892. Their home, Naulakha, references his birth and childhood in India. Kipling believed that Brattleboro’s conservative small-town culture created an
Woodstock
Woodstock, a town with 3,000 residents located in upstate New York, is separate from the famous 1969 cultural event. This southeastern town attracts architecture enthusiasts, particularly for the First Congregational Church, built in 1807 and featuring a bell cast by American revolutionary Paul Revere, and the Norman Williams Public Library, completed in 1884. For outdoor activities, visitors can walk in Woodstock Town Forest, located south of the town, or enjoy panoramic views from the Marsh Billings Rockefeller National Historical Park, the only part of the US National Park system in Vermont besides the Appalachian Trail. Recently, Woodstock has modernized its infrastructure with digital technology, launching the “Wireless Woodstock” initiative in 2011, which provides free Wi-Fi across the entire town. It’s not quirky; it’s just cool.
Vermont’s Quirky Small Towns May Also Be Its Best
These small Vermont towns show the state’s sometimes quirky, but never boring character. Architecture fans will find unusual, beautiful examples state-wide. Montpelier is an oddly pint-sized capital with heavyweight history. Brattleboro has long attracted strange, sometimes brilliant types, whether foreign or domestic. Manchester is interesting enough for the World’s Most Interesting Man. And with abundant natural parks, the Green Mountains, and the majesty of Lake Elmore and Lake Champlain, the quirks of Vermont’s best features should attract even the most straight-laced visitors.
Crime
During a search of a dumpster where the worker allegedly discarded the mail, police found several packages and holiday cards.
A Vermont postal worker was cited and suspended for allegedly throwing away mail that was supposed to be delivered to other people, according to police.
Natasha Morisseau, 34, of North Troy, was cited on nine counts of petty larceny and five counts of unlawful mischief, Vermont State Police said in a statement. She works as a mail carrier for the town’s United States Postal Service (USPS) office.
Officers were first alerted to the discarded mail on the afternoon of Jan. 23, according to police. Upon finding the mail in a dumpster on Elm Street in North Troy, they determined that none of it was for that address.
Police identified Morisseau as a person of interest and learned that she was a postal employee. They confirmed that she had regularly been throwing away a small amount of mail under her care since at least October 2025, according to the statement.
After searching the dumpster and Morisseau’s mail vehicle, officers found opened and unopened packages, along with several holiday cards, one of which contained money. Morisseau was later cited Feb. 14 and is due to appear March 17 in Vermont Superior Court, police said.
Since Jan. 23, Morisseau has been suspended by USPS, and all recovered mail has been given back to them for delivery, according to the statement. The case has been forwarded to the USPS’ Inspector General for further review.
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On a typical day, some of the 20 stealth fighter jets based in South Burlington, Vt., take off from tiny Burlington International Airport for training runs near the northern border. In recent months, they’ve flown much farther afield.
The Vermont Air National Guard’s 158th Fighter Wing was deployed in December to the Caribbean, where it took part in the US campaign to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Shortly thereafter, the squadron joined a military buildup in and around the Middle East to prepare for US and Israeli airstrikes against Iran.
Though both deployments had been widely reported, the military remained mum about the whereabouts of Vermont’s F-35A Lightning II jets. Even Governor Phil Scott, technically the commander of the Vermont Guard, said he only knew what he’d read in the news, given that US military leaders were directing the missions.
On Monday, General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed the deployments at a Pentagon press conference about the war on Iran. Caine praised National Guard members from Vermont, Wisconsin, and elsewhere.
“In the case of the Vermont Air National Guard and the 158th Fighter Wing, they were mobilized for Operation Absolute Resolve,” Caine said, referring to the Venezuela campaign. “And then were tasked to take their F-35As across the Atlantic instead of going home, to be prepared to support this operation” in the Middle East.
Much remains unknown about the Vermont Guard’s recent missions, including the precise role they played in Venezuela and Iran, where the jets are currently based, and how long they’ll remain.
The Guard did not immediately respond to requests for comment., Its recently elected leader, General Henry “Hank” Harder, said in a statement that the force was “proud of the dedicated and professional service of our Airmen” and pledged to support their families in the meantime.
“We will continue to carry out our commitment to these Vermont Service Members until, and long after, they return from this mission,” Harder said.
Vermont’s three-member congressional delegation, meanwhile, has praised Vermont Guard members for their service in Venezuela but has criticized President Trump’s campaigns there and in Iran, particularly absent congressional authorization.
“The people of our country, no matter what their political persuasion, do not want endless war,” said Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent, echoing similar remarks from Senator Peter Welch and Representative Becca Balint, both Democrats. “We must not allow Trump to force us into another senseless war. No war with Iran.”
Paul Heintz can be reached at paul.heintz@globe.com. Follow him on X @paulheintz.
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