The state’s Climate Superfund Act is modeled on federal Superfund law and seeks to assess financial penalties for emissions generated between 1995 and 2024, which could total billions of dollars.
The bill passed the state House in a 94-38 vote May 7, a margin just shy of a supermajority. In an earlier procedural vote, it received a veto-proof 100 votes, suggesting the Legislature had the votes to override a veto from Scott’s office.
The Climate Superfund Act is the first of several similar state bills to become law. The New York state Senate passed its own legislation earlier this month, but earlier this week New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) was leery of the measure, telling reporters he believed it would hurt utility customers.
“I’ve never in my life seen corporations choose the ratepayer over the stockholder,” Heastie told reporters Thursday, according to WXXI. “Asking these companies to pay more, it’s going to be, of course, taken out on the ratepayer.”
In a statement accompanying his decision to allow the bill to become law, Scott expressed concerns about the logistics of proceeding with the law alone, noting Vermont’s low population and gross domestic product relative to states such as New York and California.
He also suggested that the law, which appropriates $600,000 to conduct an analysis of how the program will work and be defended in court, is “not positioning [us] for success.”
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
