State Climate Superfunds

In anticipation of the coming environmental and public health effects from climate change, several American states have proposed new legislation that will impose fees on major fossil fuel companies in order to fund adaptation projects. Known as ‘climate superfunds’, these bills are modelled on hazardous waste laws that similarly require the parties responsible for environmental damage to assist with ameliorating any resulting harm. However, enacting these laws at the state level will likely raise several constitutional issues under the US federalist system. This talk will describe these constitutional questions and how the potential legal issues may influence the design of the laws. It will also include a discussion of the broader political and policy rationales for pursuing this legislation at the state level rather than at the federal level.

Rachel Rothschild is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. She received her JD from NYU School of Law, where she was a Furman Academic Scholar, and her PhD in history from Yale University, where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. Her scholarship sits at the intersection of environmental law, history, and policy. She is the author of the book Poisonous Skies: Acid Rain and the Globalization of Pollution, and is currently at work on a second book that will examine the history of environmental science and pollution regulation from the 1970s to the present.