top of page
Search

Pass the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act, November 2024




Take Action

U.S. taxpayers currently bear the financial burden of climate change. The Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act (S. 5054/H.R. 9573) would require the largest fossil fuel extractors and refiners in the country to pay into a fund dedicated to climate resilience, adaptation, disaster response, and environmental justice. Contact your Members of Congress to ask them to support the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act, which will shift the burden of recovery and mitigation costs to the fossil fuel corporations “to pay their fair share.”

Background

According to the sponsors of the Polluters Pay Act, “The catastrophic costs of climate change are evident all around us, with rising sea levels, more intense storms, and heat waves and drought.”  From floods in Vermont and the Midwest, to fires in California, to hurricanes in the East, these events cause damages in the billions of dollars. “Defending … coastal communities from sea level rise will cost more than $400 billion over the next 20 years…” Fossil fuel companies, whose products are causing the damage, are making record profits while others pay the price.

Why Now?

Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representatives Jerry Nadler and Judy Chu recently introduced the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act. If passed, this bill will hold fossil fuel companies responsible for damage caused by climate change. It will generate significant revenue by requiring fossil fuel companies to pay into a fund based on their emissions and disburse these funds to support a just climate transition. The proposed law, similar in concept to the existing federal Superfund law that holds polluters responsible to pay for remediating hazardous contamination, would authorize the U.S. Treasury to bill each of the top-polluting companies every year for ten years in an amount that accounts for their proportional share of greenhouse gas emissions. 

Although it is unlikely to come up for a vote in the near future, now is a good time to educate legislators about the Polluters Pay Act. Communities are reeling from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which caused catastrophic damage estimated to cost over $50 billion each.  Also, momentum is building for action to charge fossil fuel companies for the damage they have caused.  Following catastrophic flooding in 2023, the Vermont legislature passed a law instituting the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program.  Similar laws are under consideration in several states including New York, California, Massachusetts, and Maryland.

Jewish Perspectives

Centuries of debate has been exchanged about the phrase from Exodus 21:24 “an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” The Talmud and all subsequent Jewish scholars are clearly in agreement that this is to be taken figuratively, not literally, and that monetary compensation is to be exacted from the perpetrator. The Talmud, in various cases of Tractate Bava Kamma, states that compensation is calculated with five types of indemnity in mind: damage, pain, medical costs, loss of livelihood, and humiliation. These five categories clearly define the effects of amplified disasters in a troubled global climate. Those damaged by the negligence and arrogance of polluters, which seems to be the entire Earth, must be compensated not out of a desire for vengeance but for the very real suffering inflicted.

Learn more

Billion-dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Sample Message

Dear Representative or Senator,

I urge you to support the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act (S. 5054/H.R. 9573) which will hold fossil fuel companies responsible for their fair share of the cost of damage to our communities caused by climate change.

The burden of paying to recover from catastrophic climate disasters currently falls to the American taxpayer.  This burden must be shifted to the companies whose emissions are heating up the atmosphere. 

I am concerned about climate change because….insert your personal story here

Jewish law and tradition require that those who cause damage must provide monetary compensation for the suffering inflicted. It seems to me that this is the least we should require of fossil fuel companies that have caused so much harm.

How to Contact Your Members of Congress

Find your Members of Congress at https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

Call the Capitol switchboard (202) 224-3121 to reach your Member of Congress’ office.

Online: Go to your Member’s website and look for the “contact” page to submit a message.


 
 
bottom of page