December 11, 2024
A coalition of environmental activists, faith and labor leaders and students called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign the Climate Change Superfund Act—a new law which would hold polluters accountable for climate damage they caused.
The coalition made its case at a Dec. 10 press conference, held on the state Capitol’s Million Dollar Staircase. UUP President Fred Kowal spoke at the event, along with representatives from more than dozen groups, including NYPIRG, the New York State Council of Churches, the Interfaith Climate Justice Community and the Niagara Falls branch of the NAACP.
“Polluters must be held accountable for their actions,” Kowal said. “At this moment, the governor can make a historic difference,” It’s not about the future anymore. It’s about the present. We cant put it off any longer. Sign the bill.”
“With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Hochul can do something about shifting the cost from we, the taxpayers to the big oil companies that are responsible for the growing and worsening climate catastrophe that we’re living in,” said Blair Horner, NYPIRG’s executive director. "’Let’s hope that Gov. Hochul will make Big Oil learn what we all learned as children: You make the mess, you clean it up.”
The press conference kicked off the coalition’s three-day “Sit-In, Teach-In, Sing-in and Youth Die-in” event at the Capitol. More than 100 activists turned out for the press conference and rally; some planned to take part in a non-violent sit-in at the Capitol after the press event, part of their plan to pressure Hochul into signing the bill.
Some activists held signs that read “Pass the climate superfund,” “Make Big Oil Pay!,” and “Our Future is on the Line,” as they chanted “Sign the bill!” between speakers,
“It’s high time Gov. Hochul signs the Climate Superfund Act, to make Big Oil pay—not decimate climate action through opaque chapter amendments or through doubting our climate goals,” said Helen Mancini, a 17-year-old organizer for Fridays for Future NYC.
The bill would establish a climate change adaptation cost recovery program requiring companies that have “contributed significantly to the buildup of climate-warming greenhouse gases” to pay a share of infrastructure upgrades in affected communities to help them adapt to climate change, according to the bill.
Large fossil fuel companies doing business in New York would have to contribute a total of $3 billion each year—or $75 billion over the next 25 years. The payments are meant to have “a meaningful impact on the burden borne by New York State taxpayers for climate adaptation,” the bill read.
Read the bill HERE.