When floods wash out roads and heat waves strain schools and hospitals, local taxpayers get stuck with the bill. Climate superfund laws aim to change that by requiring the biggest fossil fuel companies to cover a share of the repair and recovery costs tied to their pollution. Now those laws are under attack in court, and state leaders need to stand firm.

New York passed its Climate Change Superfund Act in 2024, seeking $75 billion from fossil fuel companies to pay for storm recovery and upgrades like better stormwater drains and cooling systems in public buildings. Two federal judges have now blocked it, ruling that the federal Clean Air Act overrides it. New York is expected to appeal. Vermont, the only other state with a similar law, is facing its own lawsuit.

The fight reaches far beyond New York. This month, the U.S. Supreme Court begins hearing Suncor v. Boulder County, a case over whether a Colorado community can sue oil companies in state court for climate harm. Legal experts warn that a broad ruling against Boulder could block states from recovering these costs anywhere in the country. West Virginia's attorney general has already promised to sue any state that passes a law like New York's.

This comes down to fairness. The companies that profited from pollution should help pay for the damage, not families already facing rising costs. And voters in each state, through the leaders they elect, should get to decide how to protect their own communities.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James should appeal both rulings and defend the law. Lawmakers in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Hawaii, California, Illinois, and Massachusetts who are weighing their own climate superfund bills should keep moving them forward instead of backing down under legal threats.

Sign the petition to make Big Oil pay its fair share, before the Supreme Court decides whether states can hold polluters accountable at all.