"The laws aim to force oil companies to help pay for damage from global warming. Industry is gearing up for state-by-state battles."
"Climate “superfund” bills, based on the principle that oil companies should pay costs associated with climate change, are gaining ground in state legislatures around the country.
But it’s unclear whether the only two states to have passed such laws, New York and Vermont, will be able to defend them from legal challenges. The Justice Department, industry groups and other states have all sued to block the laws.
The laws borrow their superfund names from the long-running federal program that requires companies to pay to clean up industrial sites they polluted.
Despite the legal efforts to kill the newer, climate-focused versions of these laws, states around the country are proposing similar measures. In Maine last week, one such bill passed a committee vote, and others were recently introduced in Illinois and New Jersey, with one also expected soon in Connecticut. Related measures are pending in several other states."
Karen Zraick reports for the New York Times February 6, 2026.
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