Put Big Oil on the hook for climate damages instead of NY taxpayers (Guest Opinion by Blair Horner)

Blair Horner is executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and public education organization. Horner is based in Albany.
On July 16, a tornado tore through the city of Rome, New York, damaging 370 homes and destroying numerous businesses. This is anything but typical for the small towns of Upstate New York, and residents now face unforeseen repair costs they may not recover from. As the number of extreme weather events in New York continues to grow, taxpayers should not have to continue to foot the bill for the wreckage caused by the climate crisis. Luckily, there is a solution — the New York Climate Change Superfund Act.
The New York state Legislature overwhelmingly passed the Climate Change Superfund Act this year, but Gov. Kathy Hochul has yet to sign it. If she approves it, the law will require Big Oil companies like ExxonMobil and Saudi Aramco to pay a combined $3 billion every year, for 25 years, into a fund dedicated to resiliency and climate-related projects across the state. For example, the biggest, wealthiest oil companies would be financially responsible for the costs New Yorkers incur repairing homes, roads and bridges damaged by tornadoes, hurricanes and extreme heat. The Superfund would also include designated funding to make the infrastructure in towns and cities more resilient to future climate catastrophes. No one should have to spend their hard-earned money to recover from disasters that Big Oil companies are responsible for.
In July, there were a record 23 tornadoes in New York; the previous record was set in 1992 at just 13. This year alone, Hochul has already pledged $1.3 billion of taxpayer spending toward cleanup and resiliency projects, including the devastation in Rome. Between 2011 and 2023, New York received the second-highest per capita disaster relief spending from the federal government. Federal tax dollars are paying for this, too, and it is only predicted to get worse. Experts estimate that the $75 billion investment over 25-years from the Superfund could save $825 billion down the road. Aramco made $121 billion of net income in 2023. Asking Aramco and companies like them to pay less than $500 million per year is a drop in the bucket. The Superfund Act helps the pocketbooks of those who need it the most — low- and middle-income New Yorkers — by making sure that more and more state spending is not diverted to climate costs.
Along with lower-income New Yorkers, older and disabled people are some of the most vulnerable to extreme heat and weather. As we’ve experienced with this summer’s relentless heatwaves, New York can no longer escape from such events. In the U.S., people 55 and up accounted for 61% of heat-related deaths, well overrepresenting their population share.
Disabled people also face unique challenges with mobility during extreme heat events. Wheelchair batteries can be hard to charge and can overheat, rendering people who use wheelchairs and many other mobility devices unable to leave home to find a cooling center. During an extreme weather event, disabled people often struggle to find a safe place to take shelter when accessible environments are damaged. But the Superfund could pay for upgrades to protect those who are the most vulnerable.
Climate change is driving higher numbers of dangerous extreme weather events.
What’s happening in the Carolinas and Tennessee right now could be around the corner for New York. Hurricane Helene devastation has made clear that the longer we wait to build infrastructure that protects us from future catastrophic storms, the more lives and homes could be lost.
The Big Oil companies are contributing to the rise in these weather events and the subsequent damage they cause. Big Oil has never been held accountable. New Yorkers shouldn’t be carrying this balance and paying to repair their homes, businesses, and communities. Instead, New York can make Big Oil spend money to protect us now.
The Climate Superfund has another benefit: It is designed to protect the public from costs being passed on by Big Oil. That’s not just what lawmakers think, it’s what experts think too. According to an analysis by the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU Law, the public would be protected from costs being passed on. And their conclusion was recently echoed the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz,by who makes the case that the Superfund Act will not raise the price of oil on consumers.
New Yorkers have already suffered and paid enough. We all learned it in kindergarten: When a person makes a mess, they clean it up. It’s about time Big Oil learned this lesson. Gov. Hochul, sign the Climate Change Superfund Act and make them clean up their messes.