by Jacob Siegel,
Right now, we’re facing another summer that will bring record-breaking heat, hurricanes, drought, and fires – putting millions at risk of losing lives, livelihoods, homes, and communities. Who should pay for these damages?
The vast majority of people say the industry that knowingly created the climate crisis in the first place: Big Oil, Gas, and Coal.
And rightly so. The science is clear. Fossil fuel corporations are responsible for the emissions that have heated our planet to the boiling point. Moreover, the industry has known for decades what was happening, and took pains to hide it.
And now, it’s doing all it can to evade responsibility and gain immunity from accountability, fighting back against laws that aim to make it pay for the damages from climate disasters.
This is a powerful industry with deep pockets and decades of investments in policymaking and policymakers. At this point, the far-right, climate-denying trifecta in Washington, DC is expediting Big Oil’s dirty agenda. From appointing fossil fuel executives and apologists to head agencies in charge of our lands, air, and water, to killing clean energy investments, to striking down landmark rulings and firing climate scientists – each day selfish politicians are doing the bidding of the country’s corporate polluters.
But Big Oil is not all-powerful – far from it. Activists, voters, and policymakers are stepping up in states from coast to coast, proposing and passing Make Polluters Pay (MPP) legislation. These are groundbreaking bills that acknowledge the role of fossil fuel corporations and hold them accountable for the costs of damage from climate disasters, including cleanup and remediation.
New York and Vermont have already passed MPP (aka Climate Superfund) laws. California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and others are drafting similar legislation. The original Superfund legislation, the largest environmental remediation law in the country, was passed in the 1980s with bipartisan support. We can now do the same thing for climate. Using new attribution science, we can identify the precise amount of damage corporate polluters have contributed to climate disasters and make them pay.
Big Oil and Gas feel the heat
Needless to say, the fossil fuel industry is fighting back. Corporate polluters are spending millions of dollars and marshaling the White House to carry out their dirty agenda. They are determined to stop these bills and overthrow the will of the people.
In April, President Trump directed the Justice Department to identify ways to slow states’ progress on clean energy and climate. In early May, the Justice Department sued New York, Vermont, and two other states, attempting to stop them from implementing laws or filing lawsuits to make polluters pay. At the same time, the fossil fuel industry is hoping to sneak legal immunity for its climate impacts into must-pass federal legislation.
Trump is eager to do the fossil fuel industry’s bidding and is lending his full support to these attempts to evade accountability.
From an administration that claims to care about states’ rights, this is hypocrisy. States have a right to hold corporations accountable. Trump’s attempts are evidence that MPP laws are working to hold big fossil fuel corporations accountable – Big Oil is running scared.
In fact, now is a crucial time for us to press the advantage. President Trump knows his toothless directive and meritless lawsuits aren’t likely to succeed in overturning state laws – but he and Big Oil want to make states and localities think twice before taking action. The fact that the fossil fuel industry is fighting these common-sense laws so aggressively should inspire more states to pass MPP laws.
The Torah teaches that a person who creates a public hazard is obligated to pay when it causes damage – ba’al habor yeshalem. Big Oil, Coal, and Gas knew the climate impacts of their products five decades ago, with “shocking accuracy.” But they hid this information, misled the public, and deceived shareholders, all to keep profiting from their destructive business model.
Fossil Fuel Corporations are desperate for Immunity
There is another threat on the horizon: the fossil fuel industry is hoping to win the protection of legal immunity. The gun industry managed this three decades ago, when it won immunity from legal accountability.
The fossil fuel industry has tried to slip immunity into must-pass legislation for years, even though it is deeply unpopular. 65% of likely voters oppose granting this kind of get-out-of-jail-free card.
Get Involved and Take Action!
We need to have hizuk, strength, in this moment – and so do our elected leaders. The rabbis of the Talmud introduce the Jewish principle of “ma’alin ba-kodesh v’ayn moridin”: once we set out upon a holy path, we rise, we do not descend. We always knew climate laws – at state and federal levels – would get challenged, and we’re ready to defend them.
At the federal level, we need to do everything in our power to make sure Congress doesn’t do more to protect corporate polluters. We need to pressure policymakers to vote against any legislation that offers immunity to Big Oil, and in favor of bills that hold it accountable.
At the state level, join the powerful wave of action to hold polluters accountable.
Check out Dayenu’s California campaign and take action today. We’ve also signed on in support of the MPP bill in Massachusetts. In New York, we need to make sure the Cap-Trade-and-Invest bill gets implemented. Join our campaign to pressure Governor Hochul to ensure New York remains a climate leader.
jacob siegel
Rabbi Jacob Siegel supports Jewish organizations to make their investments and banking relationships more resilient by screening out fossil fuels and investing in a clean energy future. He most recently served as Director of Climate Engagement for Adamah. He also served as Director of Engagement and an impact investment advisor for JLens Investor Network. He received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis.