The climate lawfare machine hit a roadblock in Maine this week, as state officials and business leaders raised red flags about a pair of climate superfund-style bills being rushed through the legislature with little public notice.
On Monday, a familiar band of climate litigation backers poured resources into a heavily one-sided hearing on climate change superfund legislation before the Maine Environment and Natural Resources Committee. LD 1870 and LD 1808 – marketed as “cost recovery” bills – are the latest play by deep-pocketed national activists using Maine as a pawn in their broader war on American energy.
The legislation received some well-deserved pushback during the hearing, as level-headed state officials urged lawmakers to reconsider this next phase of climate lawfare:
“‘Adopting some version of a climate superfund in Maine now creates an administrative burden for the department to develop a program that may be struck down by judges in the coming year,’ Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Loyzim warned at the hearing.” (emphasis added)
The future of this trend of legislation is tenuous at best, and Maine lawmakers have a good sense of the legal pushback they would be up against if they chose to pass a similar law.
Less than a week ago, the Department of Justice directly challenged two climate superfund laws, passed in New York and Vermont. And more than twenty state AGs are suing the states over their “devastating” laws, clearly showing Maine lawmakers the legal pushback they would be up against if they chose to pass a similar law.
Lobsters, Litigation and Climate Superfund Legislation
National figures backed by the Rockefellers testified in support of the bills, including Rachel Rothschild – who is considered the lead champion of climate superfund laws across the U.S. – as well as Dartmouth professor Justin Mankin and Richard Heede of the Climate Accountability Institute.
Mankin co-authored an attribution study last month purporting to be the “be all end all” for climate accountability, and he is now pitching his wares, submitting the paper as formal testimony in support of the bills. Even disregarding the clear lack of bias, the paper frames its conclusions with a level of certainty that is scientifically unjustified – a red flag for anyone concerned about academic integrity.
The hearing lineup alone reveals this is no grassroots movement – it’s an out-of-state operation with a dangerous, and sophisticated, agenda.
Maine Businesses: Superfund a Disaster in the Making
Local business leaders aren’t staying silent, either. Maine Policy Institute’s Harris Van Pate warned of the dangerous precedent this could set for any industry deemed “politically unfavorable”:
“These bills arbitrarily select fossil fuel companies, who already pay significant taxes and face state and federal regulations, and seek to recoup undefined “costs” without clear legislative guardrails or economic modeling. This taxation disguised as restitution risks chilling future energy investment in Maine at a time when energy security and affordability are more vital than ever.”
Likewise, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce blasted the bills for creating unpredictable and unfair legal exposure:
“Imposing penalties on actions that were – and continue to be – lawful introduces regulatory uncertainty, signaling that Maine is an unpredictable place to do business.”
The Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast also warned that these bills would jack up fuel prices, harming industries that rely on affordable energy:
“These increased costs are something the logging industry simply cannot afford right now.”
Even committee members expressed concerns during the hearing, the Maine Morning Star reports, that the legislation would lead to higher gas and energy prices – a burden that would ultimately fall on families and small businesses.
As American Petroleum Institute spokesperson Scott Lauermann put it:
“This legislation represents a coordinated campaign against an industry that is vital to everyday life and serves as the engine of America’s economy.”
That’s the real story. These superfund bills aren’t about helping states clean up the environment. They’re about advancing a political agenda that punishes energy producers, spikes costs for consumers and hands more power to unelected activists funded by billionaires, something Energy in Depth has heavily analyzed.
Bottom Line: Mainers – and all Americans – deserve better than backdoor schemes and retroactive punishment. The people of Maine see through it, as do millions of others across the country.
