US Administration Attacks Vermont Superfund Law – CleanTechnica

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One of the central themes of radical right wing conservatives is a desire to expand states rights. It’s an idea that seeks to reincarnate the Articles of Confederation, the framework for governing the new nation after the Revolutionary War and before the Constitution. According to Wikipedia, “The Articles of Confederation established a loose confederation of states with a weak confederated government. An assembly of delegates acted on behalf of the states they represented. This unicameral body, officially referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, had little authority, and could not accomplish anything independent of the states.

“It had no chief executive, and no court system. Congress lacked the power to levy taxes, regulate foreign or interstate commerce, or effectively negotiate with foreign powers. The weakness of Congress proved self-reinforcing, as the leading political figures of the day served in state governments or foreign posts. The failure of the confederated government to handle the challenges facing the United States led to calls for reform and frequent talk of secession.”

It’s hard to imagine how such a weak affiliation could possibly function effectively, but it did prevent a big bad central government from throwing its weight around and nullifying the desires of the people in individual states. It left states free to treat some humans as livestock to be worked by their betters for as long as they could endure and then discarded. There are plenty of people running around wearing MAGA hats today who would dearly love to see that era revived.

Government Overreach Is Alive And Well In Vermont

And yet … the folks who scream the loudest about government overreach are doing their damnedest to force the sovereign state of Vermont to abandon its Superfund law that establishes a duty on fossil fuel companies to pay to clean up the ungodly mess they have made of the environment in their quest for obscene profits. New York was the second state to enact such legislation.

Passed in May of 2024, the Vermont Climate Superfund Act allows the state to recover financial damages from the impacts of climate change to Vermont caused by the fossil fuel industry. According to the state of Vermont, those funds would support climate adaption projects.

“To support the health, safety, and prosperity of our communities, we must ensure Vermont is equipped financially to address the impacts of climate change,” said Vermont treasurer Mike Pieciak. “This work is even more important as our state recovers from a second straight year of widespread flooding, with the impact falling hardest on low-income Vermonters and our most vulnerable communities. Our Office stands ready to start implementing the Climate Superfund Act, to ensure the costs of climate change are shouldered by the polluters responsible, not Vermonters.”

Secretary of Natural Resources Julie Moore noted that, “Vermont has seen firsthand the significant impacts that climate change is having on our environment and our economy. As we advance this important legislation, we are committed to learning from academics, experts, and consultants who have laid the groundwork for states to be able to hold fossil fuel companies accountable.”

A Brazen Legal Challenge

But this administration, eager to serve the interests of the fossil fuel companies, is willing to throw all its vaunted anti-Big Government rhetoric in the trash. Politico reports that on September 15, the administration filed suit in federal district court in Vermont asking a judge to strike down Vermont’s “climate Superfund” law.

In a legal brief brimming with bombast and bromides, the complaint urged the court to “end Vermont’s lawless experiment” and argues the state law “clashes with US foreign policy” and “directly regulates conduct outside Vermont that bears no discernible connection to the state.” It goes on to describe the Vermont legislation as “an attack on the supremacy of federal law that threatens the balance of power between the national government and the states.” It concludes by asking the court to enter a summary judgement in its favor, meaning it thinks its position is so clearly correct on its face that the court need not hear any testimony or legal argument.

Shock & Awe In The Courtroom

BAM! It’s open and shut. The federal government gets to shove its fist down Vermont’s throat and there’s nothing the state can do about it. Case closed. Big government wins by a TKO. Be amazed, everyone, by the awesome power of the executive  branch! It’s shock and awe designed to force the cowering masses to obey.

The government’s move comes months after the Justice Department and EPA filed lawsuits against Vermont and New York over their climate Superfund laws, both of which are modeled on the “polluter pays” principle that is the basis of the federal Superfund program.

Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research group, one of the organizations that helped to pass Vermont’s Climate Superfund law, told Mother Jones this week, “This law is about holding Big Oil accountable for a portion of the damage it has already brought to Vermont’s farms, businesses, homeowners and communities. Vermont is well within its rights to protect its people in this way.”

“Vermont clearly has the right to raise funds and protect the well-being of its people,” Grace Oedel, executive director of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, told VTDigger this week. “NOFA-VT remains committed to defending this law, which will fund key adaptations for our agricultural state as we face the climate crisis. We know what’s behind the worsening extreme weather affecting our farmers, and it’s fair for fossil fuel companies to bear some of the cost of climate adaptation in Vermont.”

Science Is On Vermont’s Side

VTDigger adds that attribution science research increasingly shows the links between specific fossil fuel emitters and specific extreme weather events and the specific damages from that event. A new study published in the scientific journal Nature last week shows that climate change made more than 200 heat waves between 2000 and 2023 more likely and more intense, and that the emissions of 180 fossil fuel and cement producers substantially contributed to those heat waves.

Vermont has felt the wrath of the squalling infant in the Offal Office in other ways. In August, the so-called administration cancelled more than $62 million in federal funds designated to assist solar projects in the Green Mountain State, a move that is more like a threat from organized crime than the behavior of a functioning government.

Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president for law and policy at the Conservation Law Foundation, told Mother Jones her organization would “continue to defend the state’s climate Superfund law meant to protect the wallets of Vermont’s families and businesses.”

“Let’s be clear. This law is not a sweeping effort to regulate global greenhouse gas emissions, punish fossil fuel companies, or set federal policy on climate change,” she said. “This is Vermont using its legal right to raise revenue and protect the health, safety, and well being of its residents from the ruinous, inescapable consequences of climate change.”

Mother Jones says the most recent tactic by the government “is the latest attempt by the … administration to quash climate accountability efforts and environmental regulations.” In an April executive order, Trump instructed the justice department to “stop the enforcement” of climate Superfund policies.

Meet Mother Jones

A quick word about Mother Jones. People tend to smile at the mention of this publication. Who remembers Mother Jones anyway? Wasn’t she some sort of namby pamby dogooder who was always nattering about social issues? Yes, actually, she was, but so were Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela.

According to Wikipedia, she was an Irish-born American labor organizer, former schoolteacher, and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She helped coordinate major strikes, secured bans on child labor, and co-founded the trade union, the Industrial Workers of the World. In one of her more famous statements, she said, “I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator.”

So don’t snicker up your sleeve when you hear “Mother Jones.” America could use more people like her today to stem the tide of tyranny that is sweeping across the land.