In response to the Wall Street Journal's article “New York Will Now Tax America” (Dec. 28), RFF Director Lee Wasserman submitted a letter to the editor, featured in the Journal's opinion section, defending Governor Hochul's decision to sign the Climate Change Superfund Act into law. In his letter, Mr. Wasserman argues that "the costs of climate...
New York—the state with the Nation's third-largest economy—enacted climate superfund legislation at the end of 2024, becoming the second state after Vermont to do so. This is a major victory for New Yorkers and the team of advocates, led by the New York Public Interest Research Group, that RFF organized to take on this historic legislative campaign. New York’s Climate...
Last month, California filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against ExxonMobil, the world’s largest producer of single-use plastic polymers, for plastic recycling fraud. ExxonMobil orchestrated a 50-year deceptive campaign that falsely promoted recycling as a solution to plastic waste, driving increased consumption of single-use plastics and fueling the global plastic pollution crisis. The...
RFF grantee, the Center for Climate Integrity, released an explosive report revealing that Big Oil and the plastics industry have been deceiving the public about the recyclability of plastics for over 50 years and are responsible for the current plastic pollution crisis. From the outset, petrochemical companies knew that recycling single-use plastic was both physically and financially...
Last month, RFF-grantee, Earthrights, the organization representing the City and County of Boulder, Colorado in its climate lawsuit against ExxonMobil and two Suncor entities, successfully defeated the defendants’ motions to dismiss the lawsuit. This important ruling by the Boulder Court allows the lawsuit to proceed toward discovery and trial. You can find the full ruling ...
RFF's climate work realized a breakthrough when Vermont passed the first climate superfund law in the nation to make polluters pay for the damage and adaptation costs caused by their greenhouse gas emissions. It is an important step to address environmental responsibility and could set a precedent for other states to follow suit.
RFF’s director authored this guest essay...
After the Vermont House passed the Climate Superfund Act this week, it is the closest a bill like this has ever been to becoming law. This is a major victory for our grantee, Vermont Public Interest Group, that led a so-far successful legislative campaign. Now the bill goes back to the Senate for a final review before it is delivered to Governor Phil Scott. Governor Scott might veto it, in...
The Senate Budget Committee held a hearing to review a trove of new fossil fuel industry documents that blasted Big Oil for their decades of “climate denial, deception, and doublespeak” and revealed its evolving tactics to delay climate action. The documents provided another inside-look into the persistent greenwashing and propaganda that Big Oil continues to deploy to display a...