"The law would make fuel companies help pay for damages caused by climate change. The administration argues it’s unconstitutional."
"The Justice Department and the state of Vermont faced off in a federal courtroom on Monday over the state’s landmark 2024 “climate superfund” law, which will require fossil fuel companies to pay for the mounting costs of climate change.
The Trump administration sued last year to block the law, arguing it was unconstitutional. That position is supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute, which have filed their own lawsuit against Vermont.
Vermont’s law takes its name from the federal Superfund program, created in the 1980s by requiring polluters to help pay to clean up land, such as old industrial sites, that has been contaminated with hazardous materials.
The Justice Department contends that the climate superfund laws and lawsuits are unlawful attempts to regulate emissions that cross state lines, which it maintains is the job of the federal government, not individual states."
