St. Johnsbury, VT – July 30, 2024: ‘It’s devastating’: Flash flooding, up to 8 inches of rain destroy homes and bridges; trigger swiftwater rescues in Vermont The US Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute – representing the biggest fossil fuel companies in the world – are suing the State of Vermont over its new law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the state’s damage caused by climate change. The lawsuit, filed last Monday in the US District Court for the District of Vermont, asks a state court to prevent Vermont from enforcing the law passed last year. Vermont became the first state in the country to enact the law after it suffered over $1 billion in damages from catastrophic summer flooding and other extreme weather. Vermont’s Attorney General’s Office said as of Friday, Jan. 3, they had not been served with the lawsuit. The lawsuit argues that the U.S. Constitution precludes the act and that the federal Clean Air Act preempts state law. It also claims that the law violates domestic and foreign commerce clauses by discriminating “against the important interest of other states by targeting large energy companies located outside of Vermont.” The Chamber and the American Petroleum Institute argue that the federal government is already addressing climate change. Because greenhouse gases come from billions of individual sources, they claim it has been impossible to measure “accurately and fairly” the impact of emissions from a particular entity in a specific location over decades. “For too long, giant fossil fuel companies have knowingly lit the match of climate disruption without being required to do a thing to put out the fire,” Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, said in a statement. “Finally, maybe for the first time anywhere, Vermont […]
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