Imagine a world where the biggest polluters help foot the bill for the consequences of their actions.
That might sound like common sense, but unfortunately we're not quite there. However, a bill in California nearly made this ideal come true. The oil and gas industry was able to kill it, but it's on its way back, according to the Guardian.
What's happening?
This bill, dubbed "polluter pay," was able to move through several California senate committees in 2024. It would have set up a "climate superfund" on the dime of the companies producing the most planet-heating gases — namely burners of fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal.
The pool of money — which would have racked up tens of billions of dollars — would have helped communities across the state recover from extreme weather disasters while reducing the impact of the events on local government budgets, the Guardian explained.
Yet the bill was nixed in the end, saddling taxpayers with those costs instead. The polluting companies that would have been held accountable by the bill launched a massive $80 million lobbying campaign, and lawmakers caved to the pressure, per the Guardian.
Now, in the wake of the L.A. fires, the legislation is back on the table, and the same industry that fought it the first time is already mobilizing again. On the day the wildfires broke out, the state's largest fossil-fuel trade group released more advertisements trying to discredit the legislation, the Guardian reported.
The decision to run those ads right as a catastrophe began was appalling to Duncan Meisel, executive director of Clean Creatives, a group working to get advertisers to stop working with the fossil fuel industry.
"I'm normally pretty measured about this stuff … but this is despicable," Meisel told the Guardian. "It's absolutely wrong."
Why is polluter accountability important?
Globally, just 57 companies are attributed with 80% of planet-heating pollution. Yet these companies make boatloads of money every year. Chevron, for example, put away $30 billion in profits in 2023. Meanwhile, California is facing a budget shortfall of $32 billion and growing after the L.A. fires — which killed 29 people and burned over 18,000 structures, according to NBC News.
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No way 👎 Fires are getting worse because of rising temperatures. Yet those responsible for the lion's share of that rise are "desperately trying to avoid accountability," said former Culver City mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells, per the Guardian.
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"Accountability is an existential threat to their business model, and their business model is an existential threat to all of us," she added.
What's being done to get the bill passed?
When the bill is reintroduced to lawmakers, it will likely look different. It previously worked like a tax, which meant it required a two-thirds majority to pass. Now, it may simply require companies to help cover costs when disasters happen instead of paying into an evergreen fund. That would scrap the two-thirds rule and make it easier to pass, the Guardian explained.
The state of New York approved a similar "superfund" bill last month, which gives added confidence for the California effort's chances.
"The latest fire shows exactly how Californians are paying for climate destruction," said Center for Biological Diversity attorney Kassie Siegel, per The Guardian. "We need … to put the cost back on polluters."
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