The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute are suing Vermont over its new law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay for climate change damages. The lawsuit argues that the law violates the U.S. Constitution and is preempted by the federal Clean Air Act. It also claims that the law discriminates against out-of-state companies.
The Chamber and API argue that the federal government is already addressing climate change and that it is impossible to accurately measure the impact of emissions from a particular entity over decades. Vermont became the first state to enact this type of law after suffering catastrophic flooding and damage from extreme weather. The state is working to estimate the cost of climate change dating back to January 1, 1995