Why the California Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act is Important for Health
The following is related to California’s Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act (SB 684 & AB 1243)
Bill Authors: Senator Caroline Menjivar and Assemblymember Dawn Addis
California taxpayers are facing an unprecedented and escalating financial burden from the climate crisis, caused by fossil fuels. Tens of thousands have lost their homes to wildfires and floods, home insurance costs are skyrocketing, and the financial impacts of sea level rise loom large. Climate change and pollution from fossil fuels are the greatest health threats of this century (1), and the fossil fuel industry must be held accountable for the health costs.
The direct and indirect health costs of fossil fuel pollution and climate change in the US exceed $ 800 billion annually. The burden of illness, disease, and death from climate change in California is staggering; yet the health-related economic costs to California have not been well documented or calculated. These costs—in premature deaths, respiratory and cardiovascular disease, hospital and ER visits, mental health, food and water-borne illness, and more—affect everyone but fall hardest on vulnerable communities and exacerbate health inequities.
Why is the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund A Common-Sense Solution?
The climate crisis is a fossil-fuel crisis. A few of the world’s largest corporations have emitted the bulk of global greenhouse pollution, raking in immense profits while we all pay the price. The Climate Superfund Act (SB 684 & AB 1243) would ensure polluters pay their fair share for the climate damage they have caused in California. This bill would:
Direct CalEPA to complete a climate cost study: to quantify total damages to the state (through 2045), caused by fossil fuel emissions.
Direct CalEPA to identify responsible parties and assess compensatory fees: on the largest fossil fuel polluters, proportional to their fossil fuel emissions 1990 through 2024, to address damages quantified in the cost study.
Fund California’s future: Fees collected will fund projects and programs to mitigate, remedy, or prevent climate change costs and harms. The aim of this bill is to prioritize strong labor and job standards and dedicate at least 40% of the funds to benefit communities hit hardest by fossil fuel pollution. It will protect Californians and lower costs by funding critical climate solutions, including investments in a clean energy transition, community resilience, home hardening, sustainable infrastructure, and essential workers responding to climate disasters.
California is one of several states considering such legislation. Vermont and New York enacted climate superfund laws last year. This legislation could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to protect Californians and fund solutions that build affordable and sustainable communities!
FYI: This bill is different from California’s cap-and-trade program; specifically, the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act seeks recompense for damages from past fossil fuel emissions, while California’s cap-and-trade program uses market incentives to reduce future emissions. The bill is also distinct from climate accountability lawsuits brought by the State of California and local governments to hold polluters accountable for lying and deception about climate change.
What are the health costs of climate change and fossil fuel pollution?
A 2021 study estimated that the US health costs of climate change and fossil fuel air pollution (i.e., sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds) already far exceed $800 billion per year and are expected to become even more expensive in years to come without a stronger societal response to address this crisis. This price tag most likely vastly underestimates the true total costs of these problems, due to limited available health data (2).
What are the health costs of wildfires?
A recent study from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health found that from 2008 to 2018, more than 52,000 premature deaths in California were attributable to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from wildland fire, with an estimated economic impact of more than $430 billion (3). For example, the wildland firefighters protecting our communities are at increased risk of lung cancer and heart disease (4).
What are the health costs of extreme heat?
The health costs of extreme heat: California’s Insurance Commissioner studied seven extreme heat events from 2013 to 2022 and found that these events resulted in almost 460 deaths, over 5,000 hospitalizations, and nearly 10,600 emergency department visits, with associated total costs of over $4.8 billion (5).
Local and state budgets are already stretched thin. The federal government is threatening big cuts in Medicaid funding, with frightening implications for the 15 million Californians who receive health care through Medi-Cal and for the health care workers, community health centers, and rural hospitals who provide that care. We cannot afford to continue to pay 100% of the billions of dollars of climate- and fossil fuel pollution-related health and economic costs while the polluters responsible do not pay at all. This bill is an opportunity to buoy the budget and address these harms, while lessening the burden California taxpayers bear.
Resources
References
The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action, Romanello, Marina et al., The Lancet, Volume 404, Issue 10465, 1847 -1896. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01822-1/abstract
The Costs of Inaction: The Economic Burden of Fossil Fuels and Climate Change on Health in the United States. Medical Society Consortium on Climate Change and Health, NRDC, Wisconsin Health Professionals for Healthy Climate. 2021. https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/costs-inaction-burden-health-report.pdf
Connolly, R. et.al. Mortality attributable to PM2.5 from wildland fires in California from 2008 to 2018. ScienceAdvances: vol.. 10, 2024. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adl125
Hwang, J. et.al. Face-to-face with scorching wildfire: potential toxicant exposure and the health risks of smoke for wildland firefighters at the wildland-urban interface. Lancet Reg Health Am. 2023 Mar 26;21:100482. doi: 10.1016/j.lana.2023.100482
Impacts of extreme heat to California’s people, infrastructure, and economy. IEc and CA Department of Insurance. July, 2024. https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/180-climate-change/upload/Impacts-of-extreme-heat-to-California-s-people-infrastructure-and-economy-by-California-Department-of-Insurance-June-2024.pdf
