Gov. Hochul last week signed a new climate bill forcing fossil-fuel companies to pay $75 billion in “recovery” assessments over the next 25 years for their alleged role in causing “extreme weather.”
“It’s time for large polluters to pay their fair share,” she declared.
But the claim is an unscientific joke — and the law, passed by some of the nation’s most obtuse and know-nothing legislators, means the political class in Albany just hit the gas pedal on the Empire State’s economic demise.
Under this law, New York will “impose cost recovery demands” for extreme weather events “on responsible parties,” or fossil fuel companies, which “shall be strictly liable, without regard to fault ” (emphasis mine).
Each company will be assessed a share of the $75 billion pot equal to its “applicable share of covered greenhouse gas emissions” — that is, carbon dioxide resulting from the fuel and power they have sold.
But it’s a colossal money grab based on junk science, so arbitrary and capricious that court challenges are certain.