Vermont becomes first state to penalize oil companies for climate change. (Salon, by Matthew Rozsa)

Good legislation. Great precedent.  Internalizing external costs of pollution is urgently required. Whether Big Oil or Big Developers, the American people reject and will no longer accept fawning obeisance to authoritarian corporate oligarchs as a national policy.  We've seen coal-producing counties and states, nuclear weapons plant company towns, and other "national sacrifice areas."  I lived and worked in Appalachia, as an investigative reporter, weekly newspaper editor, environmental and nuclear whistleblower lawyer, and citizen activist.  

This is "not my first rodeo," my friends.  In 1999, as counsel for nuclear weapons workers, I helped draft proposed federal legislation that would have funded federal compensation for nuclear weapons complex pollution, uranium mining and related illnesses among workers and residents.  Our draft legislation contemplated on "making the polluter" pay, including corporations putting the American people In Harm's Way, in what William Blake called "dark Satanic mills," and surrounding communities, in America and many places our government polluted and controlled.   While Congress passed a multi-billion dollar compensation bill, it did not address the need to make nuclear weapons plant contractor polluters pay. 

Here in St. Augustine, our "Nation's Oldest (and oddest) City," there was a government-subsidized "Keeping History Above Water" conference, an exercise in public relations flummery. Our itty-bitter  feculent City rulers refused to provide free public access.  No one allowed, without paying hundreds of dollars as Danegeld, or a "tax on knowledge."  That's the (Dull) Republican Way in Northeast Flori-DUH. When I queried St. Augustine's then Mayor, TRACY WILSON UPCHURCH, third generation Mayor, third generation State representative and arrogant stiff-necked corporate oligarch, he said, "What do you want me to do about it?"  Ineffectual ex-Mayor TRACY WILSON UPCHURCH, illegally-appointed Establishment scion, typifies the current government of the place that HENRY MORRISON FLAGLER took over, spending some of his ill-gotten STANDARD OIL TRUST monopoly-wealth.   From Salon:

Vermont becomes first state to penalize oil companies for climate change

After a summer of disastrous flooding last year, Vermont wants fossil fuel companies to pay for damages

By MATTHEW ROZSA

Staff Writer

PUBLISHED MAY 31, 2024 3:24PM (EDT) 

Heavy rain and flash flooding sends mud and debris down the Ottauquechee River, July 10, 2023. (Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Last year, Vermont suffered a catastrophic series of torrential rainsthat washed out major cities like Montpelier, the state's capital, and the nearby municipality of Barre. Many businesses took months to rebuild and many homeowners were left stranded. Some Vermonters said it was the worst natural disaster to hit the state since a 1927 flood killed dozens of people.

Now, Vermont has become the first state to require oil companies to compensate the public for damages caused by climate change. On Thursday, the Vermont legislature passed a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of damages caused by climate change.

The bill is controversial. Vermont's Republican governor, Phil Scott, issued a public statement saying, “I understand the desire to seek funding to mitigate the effects of climate change that has hurt our state in so many ways." He allowed the bill to become law without his signature because he expressed concern about the costs of what is expected to be a prolonged legal battle.

Scott Lauermann, a spokesperson for the American Petroleum Institute, told the National Review that this is a "punitive new fee" that is part of "a coordinated campaign to undermine America’s energy advantage and the economic and national security benefits it provides. Rather than work collaboratively with the industry to further our shared goal for a lower carbon future, state lawmakers opted to pass a bill designed by activists to further their own interests.”

While this may be seen as a win for anyone hoping for better regulation of fossil fuel companies, it will likely entail a long legal battle, the Guardian reports. “We know that big oil will fight this in the courts,” Martin LaLonde, chair of the state’s house judiciary committee, told the outlet. “But, as an attorney myself, and having worked closely with many legal scholars in shaping the bill, I believe we have a solid legal case.”