With New Jersey still reeling from summer storms, fossil fuel interests fight ‘Climate Superfund’ bill

JON HURDLE / INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS – Torrential rain and high winds killed at least five people and caused damage worth millions of dollars in New Jersey in July alone, but the fate of a bill that would require fossil fuel companies to pay for past damages from the changing climate and future resilience measures remains uncertain.

The state’s Climate Superfund Act would hold fossil fuel companies responsible for knowingly emitting at least 1 billion tons each of greenhouse gases between the start of 1995—the year when the United Nations held its first climate-change conference—and the end of the calendar year when the bill takes effect …