April 22, 2025
By Ramona Cornell du Houx
There is a growing movement throughout California to make Big Oil companies pay for the damage they have inflicted upon communities as their products have contributed to the climate crisis. For decades fossil fuels have fueled the climate crisis while Big Oil made astronomical profits. Just 57 companies are responsible for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
These corporations have not listened to health experts, communities or victims who have been suffering from cancers, asthma and extreme weather devastation. Yet California communities are under siege by escalating fires, floods, heatwaves, droughts, and other disasters creating an affordability crisis. From 1980–2024, 46 extreme weather and climate disaster events impacted California, with losses exceeding $1 billion each.
Across the state, local governments and taxpayers are bearing the immense, mounting costs of rebuilding from climate damages, increased insurance premiums, property taxes, and utility bills. State and local budgets are stretched to the brink as climate risks rise, jeopardizing public services, and forcing communities to carry the burden to address climate-related emergencies. That could all change in California if The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act becomes law. The legislation was introduced by Senator Caroline Menjivar (SB 684) and Assemblymember Dawn Addis (AB 1243) on Feb. 21, 2025.
“For too long, fossil fuel corporations have reaped enormous profits while lying about the catastrophic risks of their products. They’ve put profits over people for decades. It’s time for the rights of our people to come first and foremost,” said Meghan Sahli-Wells, Fmr. Mayor of Culver City, Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) California Director. “We must take action now to prepare and rebuild after these devastating events. The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act is a commonsense way for the state to tap into a small fraction of polluters’ profits, and collect our fair share to alleviate the financial burden.”
Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) Code Blue California is urging Governor Gavin Newsom and the legislature to pass the bill with a sign on letter. Within a short time, they have already gathered more than 50 signatures from elected officials across the state in support of the bill’s passage.
“Californians have lost their lives and property to the climate crisis, yet those fueling the flames with their fossil fuel products have raked in record profits. In 2024, U.S. oil and gas companies saw a surge in profits, with ExxonMobil’s revenue reaching $339.88 billion,” said San Ramon City Council Member Marisol Rubio, EOPA California and National Leadership Council Member. “Many communities like mine are experiencing financial uncertainty due to the rising cost of living, including insurance costs driven up by recent wildfires fueled by elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. Fossil fuel combustion is a top contributor to these greenhouse gas emissions. The state has the power to redirect the financial burden away from its citizens and make Big Oil pay their fair share – as they should.”
The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act will:
- “Direct CalEPA to complete a climate cost study to quantify total damages to the state (through 2045), caused by past fossil fuel emissions.
- Direct CalEPA to identify responsible parties and assess compensatory fees on the largest fossil fuel polluters proportional to their fossil fuel emissions 1990 through 2024, to address damages quantified in the cost study.
- Fund California’s future. Fees collected will fund projects and programs to mitigate disaster related rate increases for Californians and remedy or prevent climate-related costs and harms. The bill prioritizes labor and job standards and dedicates at least 40 percent of the funds to benefit disadvantaged communities.”
In January 2025, the nation watched in horror as firestorms raged across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, destroying over 7,800 structures in the Palisades Fire, and almost 10,500 structures in the Eaton Fire. The apocalyptic nightmare fires tragically claimed 30 lives. The devastation is estimated to cost Californians more than $250 billion.
That’s why LA was chosen by The Make Polluters Pay campaign to announce at a press conference on April 16 that over 100,000 people across the state signed a petition to hold fossil fuel corporations financially accountable for climate destruction with the Superfund Act.
“When there’s an oil spill, we expect the company responsible to pay for the cleanup. If a factory dumps toxic waste into a river, we don’t send the bill to the people who live downstream. We hold the polluter responsible. That’s basic accountability. But when those same companies knowingly fuel a crisis that causes even more destruction, there’s still no system to hold them accountable. That has to change,” said Katy Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles Council Member, Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) California Leadership Council Member in a statement read out at the press conference. “The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act is a practical step to make sure the largest fossil fuel companies cover the cost of the damage they knew their products would cause. It brings resources back to the communities carrying the burden and helps fund the work of rebuilding and preparing for what’s ahead. I fully support this bill, and I’m grateful to everyone leading the charge to get it passed.”
The earth has already warmed more than half the total amount scientists project will cause catastrophic destabilization. The size and frequency of billion-dollar disasters have become too frequent, and the costs for climate damages are accelerating with every storm.
People across the state understand that this is an urgent issue. They are living in the climate crisis. Many remember that on the campaign trail the president promised to “drill baby drill.”
“For decades, Big Oil has profited from their climate crisis carbon pollution, all the while knowing the dangers that their products inflict on our local communities. To add insult to injury, Californians have been left paying an ever-increasing bill for climate disasters as their taxes and insurance premiums continue to skyrocket,” said Ahmad Zahra, Fullerton City Council Member, Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) California Leadership Council. “We can no longer rely on support from the federal government to fight the climate crisis or when disaster strikes. California needs the revenue from this legislation to prepare for and recover from the next climate crisis disaster.”
Just after Trump became president, the federal government’s investing in climate crisis measures was halted with an executive order (EO). While some programs have been restored all funding streams for environmental justice communities have not. Another Inauguration Day EO: Unleashing American Energy obliterates a critically important calculation the government uses to gauge the real-world costs that the climate crisis is imposing on the U.S. economy. Without this “social cost of carbon” measure, costs from polluting industries will inevitably be shifted directly onto Americans as the expenses of the climate crisis rise with the devastation because energy and environmental regulations — meant to address the climate crisis — will have been destroyed.
By mid-March the EPA laid out a roadmap of 31 steps it would take, targeting issues including climate change-related regulation, power plant and greenhouse gas reporting requirements, and support for electric vehicles. The steps also included the probability of lifting restrictions on the oil and gas industry, mercury standards that affect coal power plants, wastewater regulations for oil and gas development, air quality standards, amongst others. While these measures are being challenged, The Clean Air Act’s future remains in question.
“Many in my community are forced to breathe in air saturated with fossil fuel particulate pollution because they work on farms. Many become sick and too many have died. Now we also face a federal administration attacking our community with deportations while taking away environmental protections,” said Firebaugh Fmr. Mayor, current Council Member Felipe Perez, Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) California Leadership Council. “The California legislature is our only line of defense. The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act addresses the financial injustices imposed on taxpayers and working families from climate related disasters by requiring fossil fuel polluters to offset the costs ‘We the People’ have been paying because of the devastation caused by their products.”
Californians know it’s up to them to protect their state. The Superfund Act will help.
“For too long, fossil fuel corporations have reaped enormous profits while knowing about the catastrophic risks of their products. That’s why we need to start making Big Oil pay for the damages they’ve wrought with a California Superfund Law,” said Berkeley Council Member Igor A. Tregub, Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) California Leadership Council Member. “There is an enormous body of evidence of the devastation caused by rising emissions, including trillions of dollars in economic costs. This time is now for justice for our people with the Superfund Act.”
In an attempt to stop state’s from taking their destiny into their own hands, Trump’s recent EO targeted state authority and instructed the Department of Justice to strip away the independent constitutional authority of every state to govern their own climate laws. This EO’s legality is being challenged.
According to a study published in Environmental Research 34,000 people in California died in 2018 from fossil fuel air pollution prematurely.
“To protect public health and the planet, we at Elected Officials to Protect America have been working to stop this fossil fuel life-threatening pollution with elected officials from every state,” said Dominic Frongillo, Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) Executive Director and Co-Founder. “Every American elected official takes an oath to protect the Constitution from domestic and foreign threats. The president cannot legally take unilateral action to stop laws passed by Congress. Nor can he take away the Constitutional rights of states. This state authority Executive Order is an assault on the rights of every state to safeguard their citizens from the devastation of the climate crisis. It amounts to a direct attack trying to block states from taking action to establish their own Climate Superfund Act.”
New York passed a climate superfund bill in December 2024, following Vermont.