Surfrider Foundation’s four volunteer-led New York chapters had something to celebrate this past New Year’s Eve, after NY Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the Climate Change Superfund Act (S2129A and A3351) on December 26, 2024.
Our volunteers and staff have been supporting the bill for over a year, contacting our elected officials, attending rallies, and working in a large coalition.
The Climate Change Superfund Act (‘The Act’) requires the fossil fuel industry to pay for climate change damage from carbon pollution, much as the successful “superfund” laws of the 1980s did to require companies to pay for toxic pollution across the country. The Act works by charging a proportional fee to any oil, coal, or gas company that has emitted over one billion tons of carbon pollution from 2000 to 2018 in the US.
These fees have been calculated to raise $3 billion a year towards the estimated $10 billion needed annually to address the climate crisis in NY, through projects such as upgrading sewers and storm drains and safeguarding against future flooding through nature based solutions. The Act language describes these projects as, "designed to avoid, moderate, repair, or adapt to negative impacts caused by climate change, and to assist communities, households, and businesses in preparing for future climate change-driven disruptions."
A sea level rise infrastructure project in New York City
Fossil fuel companies have plenty of money to pay for these fees, raking in record profits in the past few years, with no accountability for the climate crisis they created with impacts that reach far beyond the borders of New York State. In 2022, the world’s biggest oil companies made a record $215 billion in profits.
Funds from this new law could support the establishment of a statewide office of resilience as outlined in bill S8158 that failed during the 2023-2024 legislative session. This funding could support and inform robust sea level rise planning and climate adaptation in New York.
In many states, inadequate or anemic funding have presented significant roadblocks to implement sea level rise planning and addressing the impacts of climate change in coastal areas. New York has effectively taken this roadblock out of the equation by creating a strong funding mechanism before establishing a new department or program focused on climate adaptation
A key feature of the Climate Superfund Act is that the carbon pollution fees are compensation for damages from past emissions. Therefore, unlike a carbon tax or gas tax, the economic impact will fall on big oil and gas corporations, not consumers. Any company paying into the fund will find it difficult to raise gas or oil prices (to offset the carbon pollution fee) because it would lose market share to companies paying a smaller fee or no fee. In this way, the Act should not affect gasoline prices at the pump.
As the impacts from climate change worsen, cities and states are spending huge amounts of taxpayer dollars on fixing and shoring up infrastructure to keep communities and economies functioning. Surfrider volunteers in New York know too well the costs and impacts from climate change that have already ravaged our state, including chronic erosion to beaches on the South Fork of Long Island, smoke from forest fires, and life threatening impacts from storms such as Hurricanes Sandy and Ida.
Surfrider is celebrating this victory, while being realistic about the long road likely ahead to recover these funds from the fossil fuel industry. New York now joins a number of states that have established strong funding mechanisms to address climate-driven impacts and implement adaptation at the state-level.
For example, last year California voters passed Prop 4, a $10 billion climate bond that will have resounding impacts in a state where upwards of 70% of the coastline is at risk of being permanently lost due to sea level rise by 2100. In Washington, voters supported the Climate Commitment Act, which has already contributed $2 billion to climate resilience efforts in the state since 2023.
Surfrider’s New York chapters are thrilled to join the ranks of other states working to robustly fund climate adaptation, with polluters footing the bill. As New York faces the ever-growing impacts of climate change along its coasts, the Climate Change Superfund Act marks an important shift to funding a more resilient Empire State.