This commentary is by Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.
The Scott administration’s dismissal of recent climate laws passed by the Legislature as offering “only theoretical benefits” is pure political theater from officials who know better.
After nearly a decade in charge, Gov. Phil Scott and his administration have failed to deliver the responsible climate action Vermonters expect and deserve. The May 4 op-ed by Sec. Julie Moore and Commissioner Kerrick Johnson isn’t just misleading — it’s insulting to the Vermonters who are paying for the costs of a warming world and need real solutions.
Let’s be clear: the Climate Superfund Act is not theoretical. It’s a concrete, common-sense law that says fossil fuel companies — the world’s biggest polluters — should pay their fair share to clean up the mess they made. Vermont taxpayers and communities shouldn’t bear the full cost of the climate disasters these billion-dollar corporations knowingly helped cause.
This isn’t a radical idea. It’s responsible governance.
Moore and Johnson’s sudden concern over implementation funding is transparently disingenuous. They suggest that legislators “perhaps believe that funding this work is somehow optional,” when Gov. Scott included not one dime for Climate Superfund Act implementation in his proposed budget.
They also complain that a version of the budget under consideration earlier this year didn’t include that funding — conveniently ignoring that the budget that passed the Senate just last week did.
Is it essential that the Legislature pass a budget with that funding included? Absolutely. Is there even the slightest hint Gov. Scott will help make that happen? No. In fact, as of this writing the House GOP negotiator on the budget succeeded in getting that funding – that Moore and Johnson call “imperative” – to be cut in half.
This is a familiar pattern.
For nine years, the Scott administration, aided by most Republicans in the legislature, has dragged its feet on climate policy:
- They’ve opposed nearly every meaningful piece of climate legislation.
- They’ve routinely dismissed strategies recommended by the governor’s own Climate Action Commission and the Vermont Climate Council.
- They’ve failed to put forward serious proposals of their own to reduce emissions.
- And they’ve opposed renewable energy development, making it harder to build affordable clean energy right here in Vermont.
The economic toll of their inaction is real. Vermont’s clean energy sector was once one of the fastest-growing in the state — up 29% between 2013 and 2017 and employing over 19,000 people. Today, fewer Vermonters work in clean energy than when Phil Scott took office.
And though the administration’s opinion piece gives lip service to weatherization and EVs, Gov. Scott’s primary proposal on that front is to raid Efficiency Vermont’s work and claim credit for repurposing funds that are already saving Vermonters money. While other states move forward, Vermont has stalled. The Scott administration’s failure to support forward-looking energy policy has stifled innovation, cost jobs and robbed rural communities of millions in investment.
President Trump denies the climate crisis even exists. Gov. Scott and his team admit the problem exists, but they just don’t want to do anything about it. It’s a distinction with little difference and in the end, the only ones who benefit are the polluters.
Now, Moore and Johnson are trying to gaslight Vermonters into thinking they are the problem. Their complaint about “special interests” pushing for accountability and action is deeply cynical. Who are these so-called special interests? Regular Vermonters — parents, farmers, students, workers — tired of broken promises and demanding a livable future.
The Global Warming Solutions Act gives the people of Vermont the right to hold their government accountable when it fails to meet its obligations. That’s not a loophole — it’s democracy. The administration’s effort to undermine that right is an attempt to strip Vermonters of their voice. It’s also an admission that they have no intention of getting the job done.
Meanwhile, the Climate Superfund Act is exactly the kind of innovative policy Vermont should champion. Modeled after the federal Superfund law that’s held corporate polluters accountable for decades, it uses science to link emissions to damages, directs the Treasurer to calculate climate-related costs from carbon pollution and prepares Vermont to seek compensation from massive corporations that profited while Vermonters’ livelihoods washed downstream.
It’s time to stand up for Vermonters and not for the corporate polluters that have caused our people and communities so much harm. We need leadership brave enough to take on powerful interests, smart enough to embrace innovation, and honest enough to step aside when it’s not up to the task.
The Climate Superfund Act and Global Warming Solutions Act aren’t the problem. The real problem is a governor and administration who’ve lost sight of their responsibility to the people they serve.
