Legislators want Big Oil to pay for climate change impact
By: Charles Stile
Political Stile
USA today Network
..... A landmark bill that aims to make polluters of the past pay for New Jersey climate change projects of the future died in the lame-duck legislative session at the close of Governor Phil Murphy;s term in January. [2026]
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Shoveling out $128 million in last-minute pork - short-term giveaways for the connected - was the lame-duck priority, not plans to prepare for climate calamities looming in the future.
..... But the environmental activists who swarmed to the Statehouse on March 16 [2026] were undaunted and fired up with a new sense of mission.
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The bill has been reintroduced and re-branded with a savvy name change. Big Labor, which put the brakes on the earlier version of the law, is now on board. And hopes are high that Governor Mikie Sherrill, who has waged war against the pork-approval process, is emerging as an ally.
..... "I have made my direct plea ... and everything I'm hearing back from [the governor's office], it's been all postie feedback," said state Senator John McKeon, D-Essex, a prime sponsor of the bill, who also served as a Sherrill stand-in at campaign forums last year. [2025] But Sherrill the candidate never took a position on the bill, and Sherrill the governor is not commenting for now.
..... The Climate Superfund Act that ran aground last term is now the :Polluters Pay to Make New Jersey More Affordable Act." It's a clunky name, but it has been retooled with the crucial buzzword of the day: affordability, the rallying cry of Sherrill's campaign last year. [2025] It's the mantra of a Democratic Party that is seeking to regain support among ordinary voters. And it's a word that drives President Donald Trump into fits of mockery.
..... Democrats "have a new word. ... The new word is 'affordability,'" Trump said at a rally in January. [2026] He called it a hoax and a scam. And he claimed that his administration has solved the affordability crisis by bringing down the prices of ordinary goods and services. (Then again, he declared that the United States has already won the Iran war.)
..... But the name change is also an attempt total the Sherrill zeitgeist in Trenton by emphasizing how it could benefit beleaguered taxpayers without pinching their wallets. The bill would impose a "fair share" assessment on Big Oil - "the world's largest fossil-fuel extractors" - and other industries that, for the most part, belched out 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in New Jersey form 1995 to 2004.
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Supporters estimate that it would target some 82 companies in New Jersey and raise nearly $50 billion over the next 20 years for expensive projects lie improving flood control, the electric grid, sewage treatment plants and other infrastructure - including schools - that had been battered by climate-related events.
..... The legislation, which would follow similar laws adopted in New York and Vermont, comes shut as Sherrill introduced a fiscal year 2027 budget that proposed a modest increase in spending while nearly slicing in half a proposed $3 billion deficit. Advocates argue that this is just the kind of long-term remedy that doesn't drain badly needed budget resources or force property taxes to rise. Although the money raised would be distributed to several state departments and their programs linked to climate change, it would not require new revenue from taxes, its sponsor say.
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"It's a matter of who's going to pay, with the paucity of resources, not only of the particular cycle we're in now but in the long term," McKeon said in an interview.
Opposition from business
..... But the industry and business lobby has vehemently opposed the bill, saying that imposing an "assessment" on what was a legally permitted level of pollution of the past is unconstitutional and hat consumers would bear the cost with higher fuel costs.
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"If the bill becomes law, New Jersey residents will experience major price increases at the pump and job creators will be put at financial risk," Ray Cantor, a lobbyist for the New Jersey business & Industry Association, said about the earlier version of the legislation."Passage of the bill would have a chilling effect on the business community knowing retroactive penalties can be levied against it for providing a legal and essential product."
..... But supporters say the higher-prices-at-the-pump is a reed herring scare tactic and that gasoline prices are ultimately decided by the commodity markets and competition in the marketplace. And, they say, the measure would sever as just compensation for the Trump-enacted cuts to nearly $4 billion in green-friendly environmental projects earmarked for New Jersey, according to a list prepared by David Pringle, a member of Empower NJ, an environmental lobby.
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Yet while Sherrill may signal support behind closed doors, it's worth noting that the governor has established early and warn relations with the business lobby. She has issued pro-business executive orders in the first days of her term, and Business & Industry Association officials say she represents a welcome departure from Murphy.
..... They, too, believe they have a seat at Sherrill's table, which is another way of saying they have access.
..... After their press conference Monday, [03/16/2026] activists gathered to sing a protest ditty, hoping to boost morale among the faithful before they deployed to the hallways to buttonhole lawmakers. But it remains to be seen whether Sherrill is singing the same tune.