Vermont is going to make fossil fuel companies pay for climate change damage

[Oliver the Second]

It's high time the companies most responsible for climate change pay for the damage it causes, says environmental advocate Ben Edgerly Walsh.

Walsh is the climate and energy program director with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. The non-profit environmental and consumer advocacy group has been pushing for legislation to force fossil fuel companies to shoulder some of the costs dealing with climate change.

On Thursday, the group achieved its goal when Vermont became the first state to enact such a law.

"The reality is they are the ones responsible for the pollution that caused the climate crisis. They've made an enormous amount of money on the product that caused that pollution. And they very clearly knew what they were doing," Walsh told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

"We think it's only fair that they pay their fair share of the costs."

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/vermont-fossil-fuels-law-1.7221040

[Brent]

What they are really doing is forcing the people of Vermont to pay more to drive their cars and heat their homes.