by Don Keelan
Vermont needs money to fix its failing infrastructure. It has topped-out in raising taxes and borrowing. Thus, S.259 was conceived: go after ‘Big Oil.’
Why? I am not surprised that my two state senators would be the co-sponsors of this most irresponsible piece of legislation?
Senators Richard Sears and Brian Campion joined with 17 other Senators to introduce S-259; a bill that would “establish the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program Fund, within the Agency of Natural Resources.”
Basically, the Superfund would obtain funds from any entity that, between 2000 and 2019, caused Vermont exposure to over one billion metric tons of covered greenhouse gas emissions. Meaning, the entities that were in the business of extracting and refining synthetic or crude oil, extracting crude oil from natural gas liquids, and of course, mining coal (all tied to the billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions) will be charged a yet-to-be-determined fee.
What I found interesting is that the fee is still a mystery and the anticipated millions of dollars that will flow to the State, if ever, are detailed in the proposed legislation.
The rationale is that the fossil fuel companies knowingly sent their products our way and, since 2000, have caused irreparable harm to the Vermont environment. According to Senator Becca White (D. Windsor) in a VTDigger opinion piece on April 4, 2024: “Vermont suffered 17 climate disaster events between 2011-2021.”
The easy way out is to blame the fossil fuel giants. But why not blame me? Back when my family used anthracite coal and later fuel oil, we were aware that we were sending pollutants into the sky. I still do, but I recently adopted efficiency methods and lowered our carbon emissions output. Nevertheless, will I, and other fossil fuel consumers, be called upon to send money to the Superfund?
When you look back at Vermont’s November 1927 flood, there was no mention that the oil or coal companies were to blame. This is after 85 lives were lost and over $50 million ($900 million in today’s dollars) in costs were incurred. The fact that there had been much deforestation and little, if any, farm crops were harvested was given as the major cause for the resulting damage to over 1,200 Vermont bridges.
Senate bill S-259 has a lengthy wish list of projects that will receive funding from the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program Fund receipts. According to a Bennington Banner article on the subject of S-259 on April 3rd, the funds are to be spent “upgrading stormwater drainage systems, upgrading roads, bridges and railroads, relocating, elevating or retrofitting sewage treatment plants, and making energy efficient weatherization upgrades to public and private buildings.”
There is a level of intellectual dishonesty that can be charged to those who sponsored or co-sponsored this disguised carbon tax legislation. The reason the bill targets the big fossil fuel companies is they have deep financial pockets. Conversely, Vermont’s infrastructure has been in managed decline for decades due to the fact that the State has little money. In the past 40 years, The State has taken on many social programs, resulting in less funds for what the State once did so well, take care of its infrastructure. One of the few avenues left to bring in money is to go after ‘big oil.’
How will State go after the oil companies to pay-up when the time comes? The Attorney General’s office will do what it always does, engage the services of one of Washington D.C.’s well-healed law firms that bill at $2,000 per hour.
Let me suggest a way of saving some money in legal fees. Within the bill, there is S599a (1): “identify responsible parties and determine their applicable share of covered greenhouse gas emissions.” So who are the responsible parties? First, it is me and, to a large degree, the 13 million annual Vermont visitors who traverse our roads at the State’s invitation. The State Tax Department should also own up. It had no problem collecting taxes when we filled up our cars and trucks with gasoline and our businesses with fuel oil.
In its search for new revenue, Vermont has become desperate for financial resources. What a terrible state of affairs, and it is only becoming more dire.