FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2025
Contact: Cassidy DiPaola, cassidy@fossilfree.media, 401-441-7196
Devastating LA Wildfires Highlight Urgent Need for California Climate Superfund as New York Leads the Way
LOS ANGELES, CA — As multiple wildfires rage across Los Angeles County today, destroying homes, businesses and cultural landmarks while forcing over 80,000 residents to evacuate, climate advocates are calling for urgent passage of California’s Polluter Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act (SB 1497) to ensure fossil fuel companies – not taxpayers – bear the mounting costs of climate disasters.
In response, Sara Shor, Californian and Spokesperson for the Make Polluters Pay campaign, issued the following statement:
“Today’s devastating fires are yet another reminder that Californians are paying the price – both human and financial – for the climate crisis that oil companies knowingly created. While families flee their homes and firefighters risk their lives, fossil fuel companies continue to rake in record profits. Last year alone, ExxonMobil and Chevron reported $36 billion and $21.3 billion in profits respectively.
In the weeks ahead, our communities will shoulder the costs of emergency response, infrastructure repairs, and rebuilding. But there’s a better way.
New York just proved that states can successfully hold Big Oil accountable. Their new law will raise $75 billion over 25 years from the companies most responsible for the climate crisis. California, facing increasingly catastrophic climate disasters, can’t afford to wait. These fires underscore the urgency of passing climate superfund legislation – because while oil executives enjoy record profits, it’s California taxpayers and communities who are left to foot the bill. That must change.”
The fires, which have already consumed thousands of acres and led to widespread power outages affecting over 150,000 homes, showcase the escalating climate costs facing California communities. This comes just weeks after New York made history by passing the Climate Change Superfund Act, becoming the second state to require big oil companies to pay for climate damages.
“The deadly wildfires ripping across Los Angeles in January are another example of how fossil-fueled climate change is upending lives and bringing unprecedented devastation to California,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “Intensely destructive fires like these are exactly why we need a California climate superfund law. It’s just unacceptable that the polluters who have profited by causing climate change currently bear no responsibility for the consequences destroying lives, homes and communities. Corporate polluters must use their multi-billion-dollar profits to pay a portion of the costs, rather than continuing to dump the entire burden on Californians suffering catastrophic losses.”
The proposed California legislation, which will be re-introduced with a new bill number in the 2025 session, would require major fossil fuel companies to pay their fair share of climate-related costs, which are staggering. The 2020 wildfire season alone caused over $19 billion in economic losses, while recent atmospheric rivers resulted in $4.6 billion in damages.
The California Natural Resources Agency estimates the state faces at least $113 billion in annual climate change costs by 2050. The Polluter Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act would establish a comprehensive program to assess damages and collect funds from major polluters, with at least 40% of funding directed to disadvantaged communities hit hardest by fossil fuel pollution.
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About the Make Polluters Pay Campaign: Make Polluters Pay is a national campaign building public support to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate damages. For more information, visit www.makepolluterspay.org.