ICYMI: Vermont broke new ground in becoming the first state to enact a “Climate Superfund” on Thursday – allowing the state to seek possibly billions of dollars from fossil fuel companies to pay for the costs of climate change.
The details: The bill, which had passed both chambers of the Vermont General Assembly, was allowed to become law without Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s signature. Scott cited concern with both the short and long-term costs of the bill and the possible fallout if the law is overturned in the court.
“Taking on ‘Big Oil’ should not be taken lightly,” Scott said in a letter to the legislative body. “I’m also fearful that if we fail in this legal challenge, it will set precedent and hamper other states’ ability to recover damages.”
Still, the governor said he understood “the desire to seek funding to mitigate the effects of climate change that has hurt our state in so many ways.”
The bill gained final approval in the state Senate, which has a Democratic supermajority – on May 10, with both Democratic and Republican support,
What the law will do: The Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources will be tasked with assessing a “cost recovery demand” for the greenhouse gas emissions of entities that were involved in extracting fossil fuels or refining crude oil between the years 2000-2019. An entity will only be assessed if the agency determines that that entity’s products were responsible for more than billion metric tons of covered greenhouse gas emissions. The law requires the agency, in consultation with the state treasurer, to provide a report detailing the cost of GHGs to Vermont residents and the state by Jan. 15, 2026.
The funds from the cost recovery payments would be then used to pay for climate resiliency and infrastructure projects in Vermont.
However: The measure is all but likely to face legal challenges from industry players. In a letter to lawmakers, the American Petroleum Institute said the bill “may be unconstitutional.” It suggested the law violates companies’ rights by holding them responsible for the actions of society at large. It also raised the argument that the measure is preempted by federal law.
Some notes: The legislation was modeled after the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program for chemical pollution. At least three other states – New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland – have considered versions of a climate superfund in their own legislative bodies.
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THE NEWS THIS FRIDAY – MANCHIN FILES AS AN INDEPENDENT: Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin said Friday he has left the Democratic Party to become an independent with no party affiliation, our Ramsey Touchberry reports.
“Today, our national politics are broken and neither party is willing to compromise to find common ground,” Manchin said in a statement. “To stay true to myself and remain committed to put country before party, I have decided to register as an independent with no party affiliation and continue to fight for America’s sensible majority.”
A spokesperson confirmed that “nothing will change with caucusing with the Democrats,” a move that allows Manchin to keep his gavel.
Manchin’s party affiliation switch comes amid speculation about his political future and long-shot third-party runs for other offices. He shot down conjecture on Wednesday that he would mount a last-minute campaign for governor, an office he previously held. And although he’s also previously declined an independent Senate run, his latest move fueled rumors of another bid for statewide office. Read more on that here.
OPEC+ WATCH – A DEAL FOR EXTENSION OF SUPPLY CUTS? Members of OPEC+ are working on a deal to extend supply cuts into 2025, Reuters reported this morning, citing three people with knowledge of the discussions.
The sources said that the deal under consideration could involve extending the group’s existing production cuts of 3.66 million barrels per day into 2025, and extending some or all of the additional voluntary cuts of 2.2 million bpd by some members into late 2024.
The deal is being discussed in preparation for the group’s meeting Sunday. OPEC+ said late this morning that the meeting would take place in Riyadh, rather than virtually, as previously planned.
SHIPPING FUEL REGULATIONS CONTRIBUTING TO WARMER OCEANS, STUDY FINDS: International Maritime Organization rules requiring shippers to cut their fuel sulfur content have contributed to record ocean temperatures, new research suggests.
The study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment by a group of researchers that includes scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, finds that the regulations “created an inadvertent geoengineering termination shock with global impact.”
The geoengineering effect from the rules, which came into force in 2020, could be responsible for “80% of the measured increase in planetary heat uptake since 2020,” the study concludes.
Why it matters: Scientists have suspected for a while now that the shipping rules may have played a role in the recent extreme warming.
The finding that sulfur dioxide emissions ramped up warming through a kind of accidental malign geoengineering has led to some speculation that the effects can and should be reversed through geoengineering as well – a controversial topic of conversation. The authors of the new paper said that their findings suggest that “marine cloud brightening may be a viable geoengineering method in temporarily cooling the climate.”
CLIMATE CHANGE MEANS MORE EMERGENCY ROOM VISITS, FEWER DEATHS? The Congressional Budget Office put out a new analysis this morning on how climate change will affect health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries – that is, the population most at risk from extreme temperatures, because they are old and/or sick.
In its central climate change scenario, the CBO found that emergency department visits by Medicare beneficiaries would rise by 235,000 per year from 2030 to 2075 – about 1%.
Deaths, though, would fall by about 32,000 a year, or about 2%. That’s because extreme cold weather is more deadly for older people than heat waves are, and there would be fewer cold snaps in this scenario.
Overall spending for Medicare would fall slightly. The CBO said it’s only a preliminary analysis, though, and they aim to add more considerations into the estimates in the future.
A RANGE OVER OVER 1,300 MILES FOR CHINESE HYBRID? BYD’s Qin L hybrid easily went 1,497 miles on a single charge and 17.2-gallon tank of gas in a test by reviewers, InsideEVs reports. That is significantly further than the 1,300 mile range claimed by the manufacturer, notable given that oftentimes real-world range is much less than claimed.
Why it matters: The Qin L is highly efficient. It is reportedly priced at the equivalent of $14,000 to $20,000 in China, depending on the model.
Its impressive range is a datapoint in favor of the idea that Chinese manufacturers are a step ahead on EVs, and that their advantage is not just about ripping off Western technology and driving down prices via government subsidies.
RUNDOWN
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