Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOHN ALLEN
District 32 (Hudson)
Assemblywoman GARNET R. HALL
District 28 (Essex and Union)
Assemblywoman ALIXON COLLAZOS-GILL
District 27 (Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
"Climate Superfund Act"; imposes liability on certain fossil fuel companies for certain damages caused by climate change and establishes program in DEP to collect and distribute compensatory payments.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning damages caused by climate change and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statues.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Climate Superfund Act."
2. As used in this act:
"Climate change adaptation project" means a project designed to respond to, avoid, moderate, repair, or adapt to negative impacts caused by climate change and to assist human and natural communities, households, and businesses to prepare for future climate-change-driven disruptions. "Climate change adaptation projects" include, but are not limited to: flood protection projects; home buyouts; upgrades of storm water drainage systems; defensive upgrades to roads, bridges, railroads, and transit systems; preparation for, and recovery from, extreme weather events; preventive health care programs and providing medical care to treat illness or injury caused by the effects of climate change; relocation, elevation, or retrofits of sewage treatment plants and other infrastructure vulnerable to flooding; installation of energy efficient cooling systems and other weatherization and energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits in public and private buildings, including schools and public housing, designed to reduce the public health effects of more frequent heat waves and forest fire smoke; upgrades to the electrical grid to increase stability and resilience, including the creation of self-sufficient micro grids; and response to toxic algae blooms, loss of agricultural topsoil, crop loss, and other climate-driven ecosystem threats to forests, farms, fisheries, and food systems.
"Coal" means bituminous coal, anthracite coal, and lignite.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.
"Controlled group" means two or more entities treated as a single employer pursuant to:
(1) 26 U.S.C. s.52(a) or (b), without regard to 26 U.S.C. s.1563(b)(2)(C); or
(2) 26 U.S.C. s.414(m) or (o).
"Cost recovery demand" means a charge imposed upon a responsible party for cost recovery payments under the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program established pursuant to section 5 of this act for payment into the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program Fund established pursuant to section 6 of this act.
"Covered greenhouse gas emissions" means the total quantity of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere during the covered period, expressed in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, resulting from the use of fossil fuels extracted or refined by an entity.
"Covered period" means the time period beginning on January 1, 1995 and ending on the last day of the calendar year during which this act takes effect.
"Crude oil" means oil or petroleum of any kind and in any form, including bitumen, oil sands, heavy oil, conventional and unconventional oil, shale oil, natural gas liquids, condensates, and related fossil fuels.
"Department" means the Department of Environmental Protection.
"Entity" means any individual, trustee, agent, partnership, association, corporation, company, municipality, political subdivision, or other legal organization, including a foreign nation, that holds or held an ownership interest in a fossil fuel business during the covered period.
"Fossil fuel" means coal, petroleum products, and fuel gases.
"Fossil fuel business" means a business engaging in the extraction of fossil fuels or the refining of petroleum products.
"Fuel gas" means methane, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and any manufactured fuel gas.
"Greenhouse gas" means the same as the term is defined in section 3 of P.L.2007, c.112 (C.26:2C-39).
"Notice of cost recovery demand" means the written communication from the department informing a responsible party of the amount of the cost recovery demand payable into the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program Fund established pursuant to section 6 of this act.
"Overburdened community" means the same as the term is defined in section 2 of P.L.2020, c.92 (C.13:1D-158).
"Petroleum product" means any product refined or re-refined from: (1) synthetic or crude oil; or (2) crude oil extracted from natural gas liquids or other sources.
"Qualifying expenditure" means an authorized payment from the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program Fund established pursuant to section 6 of this act to pay for: (1) a climate change adaptation project, including its operation, monitoring, and maintenance; or (2) reasonable expenses associated with the administration of the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program established pursuant to section 5 of this act.
"Responsible party"
means an entity or a successor in interest to an entity that during any part of
the covered period was engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil
fuel or refining crude oil and is determined by the department to be responsible
more than one billion metric tons of covered greenhouse gas emissions, except
that "responsible party" does not include any entity that is not
required to pay New Jersey sales tax.
3. a. No later than two years after the effective date of this act, the State Treasurer, in consultation with the department, and with any other person or entity whom the State Treasurer decides to consult for the purpose of obtaining and utilizing credible data or methodologies that the State Treasurer determines may aid the State Treasurer in making the assessments and estimates required by this section, shall submit to the Senate Environment and Energy Committee and the Assembly Environment, Natural Resources and Solid Waste Committee, or their successor committees, an assessment of the damages to the State and its residents that have resulted from covered greenhouse gas emissions.
b. The assessment shall include:
(1) a summary of the various cost-driving effects of covered greenhouse gas emissions on the State, including effects on public health, natural resources, biodiversity, agriculture, economic development, flood preparedness and safety, housing, and any other effect that the State Treasurer determines is relevant;
(2) a categorized calculation of the costs that have been incurred within the State of each of the effects identified in paragraph (1) of this subsection; and
(3) a categorized calculation of the costs that have been incurred to abate the effects of covered greenhouse gas emissions on the State and its residents.
4. a. Each responsible party shall be strictly liable to the State for damages that resulted from covered greenhouse gas emissions, as determined by the State Treasurer pursuant to section 3 of this act. Each responsible party shall make compensatory payments to the State according to its proportional liability, as determined by the department pursuant to section 5 of this act.
b. Responsible parties that are entities in a controlled group shall be treated as a single entity for identification purposes, but shall be jointly and sever