Above photo: Hartford Courant.
From a Whisper to a Murmur to a Chorus.
Communities are rallying during this week’s Make Polluters Pay Week of Action.
This week, people across the country are gathering to demand that the oil and gas industry clean up the mess it made by helping to pay for the costs of climate change.
And boy, is there a mess. We’re deep in the middle of a climate crisis—one that is predominantly caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
Indeed, it’s hard to find a single person in the United States who has been left unscathed by climate change. Since 2011, 99.5 percent of congressional districts experienced at least one federally declared major disaster due to extreme weather. A recent Bloomberg study found that climate costs for the U.S. economy were likely to top $1 trillion this year, hurting families and exacerbating local and state budget shortfalls. This is about a quarter to half of the fossil fuel industry’s annual profits.
So far, the industry has avoided accountability and responsibility for its fair share of climate change damages. But communities across the country are standing up to make a change.
A new take on an old law has been circulating state capitols. These laws—known as “climate superfund” laws—use a “polluters pay” framework similar to the federal Superfund law, requiring large oil and gas companies to help fund state climate adaptation projects.
Another set of laws—known as “climate right of action” laws—make it easier for private parties, state attorneys general, and insurance companies to sue the oil and gas industry for damages caused by climate change.
In Illinois today, as part of the Make Polluters Pay Week of Action, NRDC, alongside the newly formed Illinois Make Polluters Pay coalition, is rallying in front of BP headquarters in Chicago to announce the state’s own climate superfund bill, which will be introduced this legislative session. A recent poll showed that 78 percent of Illinois voters support legislation requiring polluters to pay into a fund for climate disaster adaptation and recovery.
“Illinoisans are watching extreme heat, heavier downpours, and repeated flooding put real stress on our homes, our health, and the infrastructure we depend on,” says Gina Ramirez, Midwest director of environmental health at NRDC. “Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry continues making enormous profits while the costs of climate damage keep landing on working families and taxpayers. A polluters pay bill would finally address that burden and generate the resources that Illinois needs to modernize infrastructure, protect people from dangerous heat, and help communities withstand the climate impacts that are already here.”
As part of the week of action, groups across the country are calling for the passage of polluters pay laws in multiple states through bill introductions, rallies, op-eds, lobby days, social media pushes, floor speeches, press conferences, virtual town halls, petition deliveries, and more.
What was once a whisper has turned into a murmur. Before 2024, polluters pay legislation was considered to have a bit part in our work to hold the oil and gas industry accountable. But in May of that year, Vermont passed the first climate superfund law in the nation. And just a few months later in December, New York followed, sending shock waves through the oil and gas industry, which had so far dodged attempts to hold them accountable. NRDC has been working to defend these laws in court.
The movement spread from New York and Vermont to other parts of the country. This past December, Maryland, led by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and other environmental groups, including NRDC, passed the RENEW Act, requiring the state to calculate the costs and financial harm of climate change, thereby paving the way for Maryland’s own climate superfund law. In about a dozen other states, legislatures are considering passing polluters pay laws.
Could the murmur turn into a chorus? Recent polling shows that 77 percent of voters now support climate superfund legislation, including majorities of Republicans and Independents.
The work is not limited to state legislation. Just last week, the Michigan Attorney General filed an antitrust case against BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and the American Petroleum Institute. This makes Michigan the 11th state, and the 12th state attorney general, fighting in court to hold oil and gas industry accountable for its role in causing climate change.
The oil and gas industry is taking notice. The American Petroleum Institute—the largest oil and gas trade lobbying group in the United States—recently announced that stopping state climate lawsuits and climate superfund laws is one of their top legislative priorities in 2026.
But communities remain undaunted.
Every year, the toll of climate change grows higher. And for too long, oil and gas companies have profited while our communities pay the full price for climate disasters. The Make Polluters Pay campaign is working to shift a portion of that cost back where it belongs—onto the oil and gas producers.
This movement isn’t just about one policy. It’s about a simple principle: You make a mess, you should clean it up.
