(The Center Square) – Vermont is the first state to enact a law requiring the fossil fuel industry to pay for “climate change cost recovery.”
The bill became law without Republican Gov. Philip Scott signing it. In a May 30 letter to the Vermont General Assembly, he explained why.
“Vermont – one of the least populated states with the lowest GDP in the country – has decided to recover costs associated with climate change on its own,” he said. Vermont’s gross domestic product last year was slightly more than $35 billion.
He admitted he was “deeply concerned about both short- and long-term costs and outcomes” and “fearful that if we fail in this legal challenge, it will set precedent and hamper other states’ ability to recover damages.”
But because Vermont’s attorney general and treasurer endorsed the law, and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources [VANR] “is required to report back to the
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