State ‘Polluter Pays’ Bills to Test Scope of Climate Change Law

A growing push by states to make top polluters pay for years of carbon emissions is unexplored territory for climate change law and likely to spark court battles, legal educators say.

Vermont, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, and California are considering legislation that would make companies that created more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the 2000s and 2010s pay into climate change remediation funds managed by the state. If enacted, liable parties would be on the hook for a collective hundreds of billions of dollars, according to a Columbia Law analysis. ...