Hochul signs law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay for natural disaster cleanup

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Thursday signed a law that will require companies responsible for large amounts of planet-warming pollution to contribute to climate damage repair efforts.

Under the new state law, companies responsible for the bulk of emissions from 2000 to 2018 will be on the hook for some $3 billion a year over the next 25 years. The law is modeled after the federal Superfund law, which sticks the bill for pollution cleanup with the companies responsible for the pollution.

The Environmental Protection Agency notably invoked the Superfund law last year in East Palestine, Ohio, after a railroad car carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in the town.

Co-sponsor state Sen. Liz Krueger (D) called the New York bill a “shot that will be heard ‘round the world.”

“Too often over the last decade, courts have dismissed lawsuits against the oil and gas industry by saying that the issue of climate culpability should be decided by legislatures,” she said in a statement. “Well, the Legislature of the State of New York — the 10th largest economy in the world — has accepted the invitation, and I hope we have made ourselves very clear: the planet’s largest climate polluters bear a unique responsibility for creating the climate crisis, and they must pay their fair share to help regular New Yorkers deal with the consequences.”

Hochul’s signature makes New York the second state with such a law, following Vermont, but the Empire State is far larger, more populous and a major center of American and international financial power.

Neither New York's nor Vermont's law is guaranteed to survive a legal challenge. The American Petroleum Institute (API) vocally lobbied New York lawmakers against it last year and cast doubt on its durability in court.

“This type of legislation represents nothing more than a punitive new fee on American energy, and we are evaluating our options moving forward," an API spokesperson told The Hill in an email. 

President-elect Trump, who has denied the existence of climate change and vowed to pursue pro-fossil fuel policies in his second term, is unlikely to devote much, if any, energy to climate change mitigation. This will put the onus on large Democratic states like New York and California, the latter of which received approval earlier this month from the Biden administration for its goal of phasing out new gas-powered car sales by 2035.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) told The Hill the state expects the new administration to challenge that waiver in court.

Updated at 2:13 p.m. EST