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Supporters of Maine’s climate superfund bill, L.D. 1870, gathered in Augusta on January 27. Photo courtesy Sierra Toomey of Natural Resources Council of Maine.

How would Maine’s proposed climate superfund work?

As Maine grapples with how to pay to fix roads, piers and other infrastructure damaged by severe storms that are increasing as the climate changes, lawmakers are considering a climate superfund act that  would fine major fossil fuel companies for past damage.

Vermont and New York passed similar laws in 2024; Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island are each considering their own bills this year. 

Maine’s climate superfund bill, L.D. 1870, which advanced out of committee last month, would impose fines on companies that contributed more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions between 1995 and 2024 and put that money toward a range of climate resilience and mitigation projects across the state.

The idea is modeled after the federal Superfund program that was established in 1980 to make polluters pay to clean up toxic waste sites. 

Advocates for the bill such as Jack Shapiro, climate and clean energy director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, believe it is common sense to make fossil fuel companies pay for damages caused by their greenhouse gas emissions, from stronger storms and coastal flooding to more intense heatwaves and wildfires.

This piece from Inside Climate News digs into how plug-in solar works as lawmakers in Maine and across New England consider bills that would allow the technology: small panels that are often placed on balconies and plugged into standard outlets.

While The Maine Monitor does not place its content behind paywalls, some newsrooms we link to in this newsletter may. 

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The Maine Monitor is a publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, an independent and nonpartisan nonprofit news organization that produces investigative journalism. We believe news is a public good and keep our news free to access. We have no paywall and do not charge for our newsletters. If you value the reporting we do for Maine, please consider making a donation! We cannot do this reporting without your support.

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