(The Center Square) – Vermont is the first state to enact a law requiring the fossil fuel industry to pay for “climate change cost recovery.”

The bill became law without Republican Gov. Philip Scott signing it. In a May 30 letter to the Vermont General Assembly, he explained why.

“Vermont – one of the least populated states with the lowest GDP in the country – has decided to recover costs associated with climate change on its own,” he said. Vermont’s gross domestic product last year was slightly more than $35 billion.

He admitted he was “deeply concerned about both short- and long-term costs and outcomes” and “fearful that if we fail in this legal challenge, it will set precedent and hamper other states’ ability to recover damages.”

But because Vermont’s attorney general and treasurer endorsed the law, and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources [VANR] “is required to report back to the Legislature in January 2025 on the feasibility of this effort,” Scott said he was “comforted.” The VANR report will enable Vermont to “reassess our go-it-alone approach,” he said. “For these reasons, this bill will become law without my signature. I hope those who endorsed this policy will follow through.”

The law penalizes “any entity … that during … the covered period was engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil fuel or refining crude oil” that VANR determined “is attributable to for more than one billion metric tons of covered greenhouse gas emissions.”

Instead of raising taxes, cutting spending, or allocating funds to cover extreme weather costs, the Vermont legislature created the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program to charge the fossil fuel industry for its “Climate Change Adaptation Projects.” The projects were created “to respond to, avoid, … or adapt to negative impacts caused by climate change and assist human and natural communities, households, and businesses in preparing for future climate-change-driven disruptions.”

The projects include “flood protections; home buyouts; upgrading stormwater drainage systems, … roads, bridges, railroads, and transit systems; preparing for and recovering from extreme weather events; providing medical care … caused by … climate change; … sewage treatment plants; … energy efficient cooling systems; upgrading the electrical grid … including … self-sufficient microgrids; responding to toxic algae blooms; agricultural topsoil loss; threats to forests, farms, fisheries, and food systems,” among many others.

Entities VANR determines released more than one billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from 1995 to 2024 will be required to pay Vermont a monetary amount it determines.

The legislature allocated $600,000 for VANR to conduct an analysis “that will need to withstand intense legal scrutiny from a well-funded defense, we are not positioning ourselves for success,” Scott said. “Taking on ‘Big Oil’ should not be taken lightly.”

“Climate superfund bills are another billionaire-backed attempt to decimate the American energy industry using unproven attribution science,” Mandi Risko, a spokesperson for Energy In Depth, an educational outreach campaign of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, told The Center Square. “Just like climate litigation, these bills do little to advance real solutions and instead will raise prices on consumers by haphazardly penalizing a lawful and necessary industry on which we all depend.”

Western Energy Alliance president Katheleen Sgamma also raised concerns. “It seems very legally tenuous to go after companies located outside the state for supposed impacts from climate change which are diffuse globally and nonattributable to any particular company,” she told The Center Square.

“Climate scientists haven’t figured out a way to determine if weather events are related to human-caused climate change, so how will Vermont determine damages and which companies are responsible?” she asked. “But perhaps the biggest problem is that Vermont attempts to shift blame for the greenhouse gas emissions that the state and its citizens emit so that they can drive their cars, turn on the light switch, and heat their homes. They want all the benefits of oil and natural gas but none of the responsibility.”

Unlike Vermont, Texas’ legislature and governor have taken a different approach – fostering domestic production. Texas leads the U.S. in production and emissions reductions.

Texas’ oil and natural gas industry also paid a record more than $26.3 billion in taxes last fiscal year – nearly as much as Vermont’s GDP. It finances three state funds (public schools, highway maintenance and reserves) and pays hundreds of millions of dollars to counties.

“Unlike some other states, including Vermont, Texas elected officials practice critical thinking and understand the importance of maintaining a pro-business environment by adopting sensible, not ideological or politically motivated, energy policy,” Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, told The Center Square. “Texas continues to lead: providing access to affordable and reliable energy that fuels our state, country, and allies, from an economic and energy security perspective.”

The west Texas Permian Basin is leading in production and emissions reductions. As production increased by 416%, methane emissions intensity fell by nearly 85% over the same 10-year time-period. In 2022, the Permian reached its lowest methane intensity in a record production year, The Center Square first reported.

“These results are a testament to the dedication and innovation of the entire oil and gas industry, with Texas leading the way,” Longanecker said.

Vermont voters will go to the polls on Aug. 13 to choose major party candidates for the U.S. Senate and House.

Incumbent Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent who is on the Democratic ballot, and Rep. Becca Balint, a Democrat, face no primary challengers.

There also is only one candidate each on the Republican primary ballot for senator and representative.

As of noon on June 7, only two minor party candidates had filed to run for Congress from Vermont: U.S. Senate hopeful Matt Hill, an Independent from Burke, and U.S House hopeful Adam Ortiz, an Independent from Newport City.

In addition to U.S. Senate and House seats, Vermonters on primary day will also choose party candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, secretary of state, auditor of accounts, attorney general and high bailiff. All 50 state senators, 150 state representatives and 1,800 justices of the peace are also on the ballot this year.

U.S. Senate

Democrats

• Incumbent Bernie Sanders, Burlington: Sanders is seeking a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, having held his seat since 2007. Prior to his stint in the U.S Senate, Sanders served in the U.S House of Representatives for 16 years and as Burlington mayor for eight years. He also ran for U.S President in 2016 and 2020, failing both times to receive the Democratic nomination. Sanders − who has historically declined the Democratic nomination for U.S Senate in favor of running as an Independent in the general election − is the longest serving independent member of Congress in history.

Republicans

• Gerald Malloy, Weathersfield: Malloy, who graduated from West Point Academy, served 22 years in U.S Army and worked 16 years as a defense contractor. He has a background in business, earning a MBA from Temple University. He previously won the Republican nomination for U.S senator in 2022, but garnered 28% of the votes and lost to Democrat Peter Welch in the general election.

U.S. House

Democrats

• Incumbent: Becca Balint, Brattleboro: Balint is a former educator who was elected to the U.S House in 2022. She previously served in the Vermont Senate from 2015-2023.

Republicans

• Mark Coester, Westminster: Coester is a small business owner. He previously ran for the U.S Senate and the Vermont Senate in 2022 as an Independent.

Megan Stewart is a government accountability reporter for the Burlington Free Press. Contact her at mstewartyounger@gannett.com.

By Taylor Galgano, Amanda Musa and Amy Simonson, CNN

(CNN) — Police in Burlington, Vermont, have apologized to high school students who were rattled by a role-play robbery demonstration and mock shooting they say sent them diving to the floor to hide under tables and texting ‘goodbye’ and ‘I love you’ to their loved ones.

About 20 students from a Burlington High School Year End Studies (YES) forensics class went to the police station for a field trip Wednesday where school officials were aware a crime reenactment would occur, school district spokesperson Russ Elek said in a statement to the VTDigger.

However, school officials “didn’t realize the presentation would happen without warning,” Elek said.

During the visit, three Burlington Police Department personnel simulated a robbery scenario that was not directed at students or faculty, the department said in a release.

Police said they had communicated with school staff lastmonth about the details of the demonstration, “including saying that the training incident would involve ‘using fake firearms in a mock shooting.’” It’s unclear whether teachers were told the simulation would occur without warning.

One 15-year-old in the class said students were listening to a presentation when he suddenly heard people enter the room screaming.

“There’s like three people fighting. The fake gun, that we didn’t know was fake at the time, got pulled out and shot what I think were blanks. They left shells. And it was still like loud,” the sophomore, who asked not to be named, told CNN. “Me and almost the whole class dove to the floor to hide under the tables because we didn’t know what was going on.”

CNN has reached out to the Burlington Police Department about the weapon used in the simulation.

The student said the person holding the gun was wearing a mask and they heard someone scream “get down.” He said that he was shaking, and that some kids were getting their phones out to text family members.

The email from school officials to families said, “While the gun was fake, the reenactment involved screaming and fake gun shot sounds.”

“If these are the people quote-unquote ‘protecting’ us, why did they make such a stupid decision without really thinking. … Especially with school shootings and stuff, we’re all already on edge,” the student said.

Police said they asked school staff whether the demonstration would be suitable for the student group, saying “It is about as real life as you can get, and is certainly exactly the sort of thing we deal with most frequently.”

“YES Program staff responded, ‘I think these students will be fine with this simulation. We will give a heads up to parents and students,’” according to the police release.

But in an email sent to families of the students after the incident, school officials wrote the simulation “was startling for many students and may have left some feeling confused and frightened as a result,” the VTDigger reported.

Burlington School District Superintendent Tom Flanagan and Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad released a joint statement apologizing to students Friday.

“It is clear to us that this week’s events resulted from a breakdown in communication between two groups trying to work together to create a meaningful experience for students,” the statement read, in part. “Both BSD and the BPD are committed to doing a better job of clearly laying out descriptions, expectations, and agendas and seeking clarification when working together in the future. Neither of us want any repeat of anything like this moving forward.”

Students ‘literally thought they were being shot at’

The sophomore student and his parent said they had no knowledge that there was going to be a shooting demonstration during the field trip. A grandparent who is guardian to one of the students likewise said the school did not inform them of the planned mock shooting. CNN has been unable to independently confirm what parents and students were told before the trip.

“If I had known that was going to happen, I would’ve never put him through that,” said the grandparent, who has asked to remain anonymous to protect the grandchild’s privacy.

The grandparent said the students “literally thought they were being shot at,” adding that their grandchild didn’t know what to do or how to react.

The grandparent told CNN their child “froze up” during the demonstration.

“Other kids were diving on the floor, trying to get under furniture, whatever they could do to get out of the situation,” the grandparent said the student told them.

The Burlington Police Department said it “apologizes to any students in attendance who were upset by the specific scenario and crime scene portion of the presentation.”

A representative for Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak also told CNN that parents and students were upset following the demonstration.

Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak said in a statement to CNN that she apologizes “for the harm and distress this incident caused Burlington High School students – students who have tragically grown up in a society where gun violence, including in school settings, has become commonplace.”

The mayor said she hopes the school district and police department “will take responsibility for the harm caused and be self-reflective about all the ways this should have been handled differently and will not be repeated in the future.”

School officials hosted a “restorative circle” on Friday for students and teachers to share their thoughts about the incident, according to an email sent to parents and students.

The 15-year-old student told CNN that teachers and police officers were present, but that he felt like police “weren’t directly holding themselves accountable.”

CNN’s Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.