State Climate Superfund Bills

Climate-superfund bills seek to connect fossil-fuel producers’ historical emissions with the public costs of climate impacts.

Proposals in Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, and Vermont consider how to calculate responsibility, collect payments, and direct funds toward adaptation projects such as flood control, wetlands protection, transportation upgrades, and community resilience. Several measures also emphasize environmental-justice communities, while supporters draw on Superfund precedent, attribution science, and the Carbon Majors Database. The policy debate involves questions about liability, federal authority, consumer costs, and how states should finance growing climate-related expenses.