A small tractor clears water from a business as flood waters block a street, July 12, 2023, in Barre, Vt., which parallels the Environmental Protection Agency's superfund program, would mandate high-emission corporations -- such as ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron -- to be financially accountable for a portion of the costs of extreme weather damage in the state.
"I am proud that Vermont will go further than any other state in forcing the fossil fuel industry to pay for the destruction caused by the crisis of climate change," Sanders said. Adversaries of the bill warn the legislation would pit the state against billion-dollar corporations in a legal battle that could never make it out of the courtroom.
"America's natural gas and oil industry is working to address climate change and build a lower carbon future, while simultaneously meeting the world's growing energy needs," API's Scott Lauermann told ABC News."This proposal is nothing more than an unnecessary new fee on American energy that would only stall the innovative progress underway to accelerate low-carbon solutions while delivering the energy communities need," Lauermann said.