Committee hears legal and technical outline of the Climate Superfund cost-recovery bill (H.122) and litigation risks

Michael Grady, identified himself as counsel, briefed the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee on H.122 (branded in discussion as the Climate Superfund Act) on April 4, describing the bill's approach to cost recovery for climate-related harms and the legal and technical issues lawmakers and agencies will face.

Grady told the committee the bill is modeled on the liability approach used in hazardous-waste Superfund law (CERCLA): it would make certain entities strictly, jointly and severally liable for a portion of the cost to the state and its residents of covered greenhouse-gas emissions tied to fossil fuels they extracted or refined during a covered period (defined in the bill as Jan. 1, 1995 through Dec. 31, 2024). A responsible party is an entity whose attributable emissions during the covered period meet a very large-threshold contribution (discussion referenced a threshold of 1,000,000,000 metric tons aggregated for attribution purposes) and that has sufficient contacts with Vermont for jurisdictional purposes, Grady said.

The statute designates the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to administer the program and the state treasurer…