American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2024 - 27

Oil And Gas Opponents
Urge States To Pass
Climate Superfund Bills
After nearly a decade, the billionaire-funded climate legal
campaign against American energy companies remains mired
in procedural issues and setbacks. Recognizing this, it appears
the leaders of the Rockefeller foundations-the lawsuits' central
strategists and financial backers-have decided to hedge their
bets and pursue their goal of taking down the oil and natural gas
industry through state legislative efforts.
In recent years, activists have lobbied state legislatures across
the country to pass " climate change Superfund " bills, with legislative
proposals currently in Maryland, Massachusetts, New
York and Vermont. These bills seek to extract billions in fines
and payments from energy companies to compensate states and
towns for the economic consequences of climate change.
The legislation attempts to attribute shares of global emissions
to individual energy companies by relying on a fringe and
biased body of climate attribution science that has been funded
in part by the Rockefeller nonprofits to support climate litigation,
as well as other means of holding companies " accountable. "
If it all sounds familiar, it should-the Superfund legislation's
aims are nearly identical to the climate lawsuits against energy
companies and it constitutes yet another brainchild of the Rockefeller
Family Fund (RFF).
The states' recent Superfund bills were preceded in 2021 by
a failed effort to pass similar federal legislation that longtime
RFF director Lee Wasserman helped develop. However, despite
a Democrat-controlled Senate, the bill didn't make the cut for
inclusion in President Biden's massive infrastructure, climate
and Covid-19 recovery legislative package.
Shifting gears, Wasserman and a familiar cast of activists
laid out their plans to push similar Superfund legislation in
" deep blue " states that offer friendlier venues. A University of
Michigan law professor who helped draft and research the bills
described the strategy shift in an interview last year:
" The environmental groups that have been pressing for this
type of fund decided that their best hope was to try to do
something in individual states where there is pretty solid Democratic
control. "
Just as New York was the first to file, and lose, a climate
lawsuit against energy companies, the state senate in May 2022
became the first state legislative chamber to introduce a climate
Superfund bill. During the bill's rollout, Wasserman spoke on a
Zoom presentation alongside the two state legislators-Senator
Liz Krueger, D-New York City and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz,
D-Bronx-who cosponsored the state's Superfund proposal, and
suggested that other states would soon follow New York's lead.
And of course, state legislators in Maryland, Massachusetts
and Vermont have since introduced their own climate Superfund
bills. In Vermont, the latest state to consider the bill, the Rockefeller-funded
Vermont Public Research Interest Group (VPIRG)
has campaigned heavily for the legislation behind the scenes.
Emails obtained by Government Accountability and Oversight
show that in April 2023, VPIRG collaborated with Vermont Treasurer
Mike Pieciak on a draft op-ed advocating for Superfund legislation.
" Shifting gears, Wasserman and a familiar
cast of activists laid out their plans to push
similar Superfund legislation in 'deep blue'
states that offer friendlier venues.
"
The two also discussed " legal updates " to explain recent developments
in climate lawsuits. Then, in June, VPIRG kicked off a complementary
" Make Big Oil Pay " campaign at City Hall.
Opponents of the Vermont legislation have argued that the
fee amounts to an unlawful tax. Proponents, including VPIRG
and the Vermont chapter of the Conservation Law Foundation,
instead characterize the fee as funds for remediation efforts.
Nevertheless, even Vermont Treasurer Pieciak-who has said
he's " excited " about pursuing Superfund legislation-admitted
that the Superfund program " would basically be an assessment, "
or a tax, on oil companies. In other words, the bill is a backdoor
attempt to achieve what Vermont already seeks through the courts.
So far, no state legislature has taken the Rockefellers' bait.
Maybe that is because the proposals fundamentally make no
sense. Seth Jaffe, a lead partner in Foley Hogg LLP's environmental
law practice indicated in JD Supra that he was " taken aback "
by the illogical climate proposals, writing " Let me assure you
that I have read several versions of these acts several times and
I still can't really make sense of them. "
Jaffe pointed out that in assigning energy companies fees-
or taxes-the Superfund proposals " use the language of damages,
but the statute does not provide much of a trial and there is no
attempt to link the payments to specific harms. "
Similar to climate lawsuits, consumers ultimately would be
stuck with the bill. Ken Girardin, research director for a New
York free market think tank, argued that consumers will bear
the costs if states penalize major energy companies for lawfully
suppling critical products such as gasoline and heating.
" 'You are not going to get the money from some guy in
overalls on an oil platform or some oil baron on a yacht, " he observed.
" It's money that's (going to be) be collected from New
York consumers and taxpayers. "
The bottom line? Climate change Superfund legislation is yet
another Rockefeller-driven effort to shift responsibility onto fossil
fuel producers, whom RFF faults for continuing to produce oil
and natural gas. This despite the fact that it is still perfectly legal
in this country to produce, market, sell and use fossil fuels. ❒
JEFF ESHELMAN is president
and chief executive officer of the Independent
Petroleum Association
of America and the founder/executive
vice president of Energy in
Depth. Along with more than two
decades at IPAA, he previously
worked at the Defense Logistics
Agency, the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy and
three public affairs firms.
APRIL 2024 27
American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2024
