Treasurer and ANR ask Legislature for more time and funding to complete Vermont climate "superfund" damage assessment

Gavin Moyles, deputy treasurer, told the House Natural Resources & Energy Committee on April 2 that the treasurer's office is asking the Legislature for a 12-month extension to complete the legislatively required damages assessment under the Climate Superfund law and for additional staffing and consultant funds.

"...we would like to ask for a 12 month extension of that to January 27," Moyles said, describing a request to move the assessment deadline and add a limited-service full-time position and roughly $700,000 for consultant work.

Why it matters: The damages assessment will estimate historic and future climate-driven harms and the cost to adapt, and it underpins any later liability methodology and demand letters the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) would issue. ANR officials told the committee the assessment must be scientifically robust because the results will face legal scrutiny and could prompt litigation.

Deputy treasurer's office view: Moyles said the office issued a request for information and found credible methods elsewhere but noted Vermont's steep, watershed-driven flooding is harder to model than coastal or flat areas. He said that complexity, plus litigation risk, means the office needs more time and about $700,000 for consultant work plus a limited-service technical position (estimated at roughly $150,000 per year) to complete the work.

ANR's view: Jane Lazorchek, Climate Action Office lead for ANR, and Billy Gostier, director of science and policy for the agency, told members the damage-cost assessment is the "most important" and most scrutinized part of implementing the law. ANR asked the committee to align rulemaking and timing with the treasurer's schedule, and requested a one-time appropriation of $500,000 to support consultant work plus an additional attorney position to develop a liability methodology and support potential litigation.

Gostier summarized ANR's request: "...we have additional staffing and contract support needs to move our components of the work forward...what we determined was necessary in the feasibility study is a one-time appropriation of $500,000 to support contractual work, and then one additional attorney position at the agency."

Scientific issues and RFI findings: Both agencies said responses to their RFI showed capable consultants exist, but that modeling Vermont's fluvial (river and valley) erosion and flood impacts is more complex than damage studies done in flatter coastal states. ANR and the treasurer's staff said the work should begin as soon as funding is available, but legal and technical work must be sequenced: the treasurer's cost assessment informs ANR's liability methodology and any demand letters.

Outside support: Anthony Irapino, speaking for conservation groups, and Ben Walsh of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group urged the committee to fund the work, saying the assessment could unlock much larger sums of recovery or adaptation funding and that doing the analysis now adds value even if collections prove difficult.

What the agencies asked the committee to do: (1) approve a 12-month deadline extension for the damages assessment to January 2027, (2) fund a limited-service technical position for the treasurer's office, (3) provide roughly $700,000 for consultant work for the treasurer's damage assessment, and (4) provide $500,000 and one attorney position for ANR to develop liability methodology and support implementation and potential litigation.

Next steps: Committee members asked about existing funding (Moyles said $300,000 was included in the original bill and no additional funds were in the governor's recommendation), the possibility of grant support for consultants, and phasing priorities between legal capacity and consultant work. Both agencies said legal capacity should be prioritized if funds are constrained.