As the costs soar for damages caused by rising global temperatures, Democrats on Capitol Hill introduced new legislation that calls on big oil companies to pay the bill.
According to Sierra, this legislation echoes many state proposals that have popped up across the United States. There is a growing nationwide push to hold gas and oil companies accountable for knowingly contributing to the climate crisis and deceiving the public.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, one of the co-sponsors of this legislation, said in a statement: "From sweltering heat waves to rising sea levels to ever more intense storms, our planet is screaming out every day for us to take action on global warming."
Van Hollen added, "And after fueling the climate crisis for decades, big polluters can no longer run from their responsibility to address the harm they have done."
This legislation, and others like it, aim to reduce the financial burden of the climate crisis on taxpayers and require big polluters to pay the price instead.
Representatives Judy Chu of California and Jerry Nadler of New York joined Van Hollen in introducing the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act. Over a 10-year period, the bill aims to bring about a total of $1 trillion — $100 billion every year.
Only the largest U.S. fossil fuel extractors and refiners — as well as foreign companies that do business in the U.S. — would have to pay into the fund. The proposed bill defines these responsible parties as those generating over 1.1 billion tons of carbon pollution between 2000 and 2022.
Funds will go toward a variety of methods to address the climate crisis and damages from it, including infrastructure upgrades to help communities become more resilient to extreme weather events and providing disaster assistance after climate-related events.
In 2023 alone, there were 28 different billion-dollar climate and extreme-weather catastrophes in the U.S., bringing total damages to a steep $92 billion.
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While the bill most likely will not get passed this session, giving momentum to the idea of holding big polluters accountable bodes well for future attempts at passing similar legislation.
Cassidy DiPaola, spokesperson for the Make Polluters Pay campaign, said, per Sierra, "I think also having it at the national level and making people aware this is so serious, so leaders in Congress are willing to put up a fight, is really huge."
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