We, the undersigned, petition Governor Healey, Senate President Spilka, and Speaker Mariano to pass the Make Polluters Pay bill, HD. 3369/SD.1674, to create a Climate Change Superfund to bolster disaster response across the Commonwealth.

Since 1995, Massachusetts has experienced 35 extreme weather disasters with damages totaling $10 billion, not including loss of life, livelihood, environmental degradation, medical costs, and projected GDP. Cities and towns across Massachusetts have a woefully insufficient average annual budget of $5,000 for disaster response. The State’s piecemeal approach to disaster recovery through one-time appropriations has left our communities increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. And who is carrying the financial burden of these impacts? Taxpayers.

Taxpayers pay the costs of climate damages and these costs will continue to rise with increasingly extreme weather events and other climate impacts. By creating a Climate Change Superfund and Making Polluters Pay, we hand that bill to the corporations most responsible for causing global climate change. The Climate Change Superfund will require the biggest fossil fuel polluters with ties to Massachusetts to contribute billions of dollars over the next 25 years. It is time for these polluters to pay their fair share for the State’s climate response. Massachusetts must seize this historic opportunity to join our neighbors in Vermont and New York and create a Climate Superfund to Make Polluters Pay!