Photo: Clean Water Action's State Director, Amy Goldsmith, speaking at a joint hearing of the NJ Senate and Assembly Environment Committees; Large Coalition calls on the NJ State Legislature to pass the NJ Climate Superfund Act and make fossil fuel companies — not taxpayers — pay for escalating climate damages.
Point Pleasant, NJ, August 14, 2025 — This morning, ahead of a joint hearing of the New Jersey Senate and Assembly Environment Committees on alternative energy in light of the climate crisis, local residents’ victims of extreme storms, state lawmakers, and environmental advocates gathered outside Point Pleasant Borough Hall to urge passage of the New Jersey Climate Superfund Act. Organized by the Empower NJ coalition, the press conference featured bill sponsors Senate Environment Committee Chair Bob Smith, Committee Co-chair Senator Linda Greenstein and Assemblymember Alixon Collazos-Gill.
The Act would require the world’s largest fossil fuel corporations to pay for the billions in damages from storms, floods, and heat waves that have battered New Jersey. Modeled after laws in New York and Vermont, the bill has cleared both chambers’ environmental committees and is backed by dozens of municipalities, counties, and organizations. It targets companies responsible for over one billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions since 1995, directing that money to infrastructure repairs, community protections, and climate resilience projects.
“Whether you live on the Jersey Shore, large city, or in-land communities, like Plainfield, low income households, renters, businesses and towns lack the resources and insurance coverage to protect and recover from the onslaught of climate change,” said Amy Goldsmith, New Jersey State Director at Clean Water Action. “When Superstorm Sandy hit, our Belmar office was completely destroyed. We had to fend for ourselves and relied on generous donations to get back on our feet. This is not what public policy should look like. NJ’s best option for protecting whole communities is the Climate Superfund Act — requiring Big Oil, the known wrongdoers and catalyst for climate change, to dig into their deep money pockets to pay for NJ’s future climate recovery and resilience.”
“The New Jersey Resource Project and New Jersey Organizing Project were created by flood survivors of Superstorm Sandy, like myself,” said Jody Stewart, Organizing Director for NJRP/NJOP. “Flood survivors stood together to fight to recover, to find a way home and we will continue fighting to keep our communities whole and safe. I fear that due to all the extreme weather that future generations will not be able to experience the Jersey Shore as I have.”
“Whether inland or at the Jersey Shore, extreme weather is increasingly happening. Why not have folks that profited from that pay instead of the victims?,” said prime Senate sponsor John McKeon. “Climate Superfund does that, a win-win for consumers, affordability and the economy. A fraction of the largest responsible profiting polluters pay a fraction of the damage they've caused. It shifts the costs off the backs of taxpayers and ratepayers and the funds go directly into New Jersey's economy creating good jobs, reducing air pollution and making towns more resilient. #JerseyStrong.”
“The Climate Superfund Act would finally hold the biggest contributors to climate change accountable for the damage they’ve inflicted on our environment,” said prime Assembly sponsor Alixon Collazos-Gill. “This is a pivotal step forward in our fight to protect our planet and communities. I’m proud to stand alongside my colleagues in the Legislature and dedicated environmental advocates to push this legislation across the finish line.”
“We need clean alternative energy!,” said co-prime Senate sponsor Bob Smith. Each year, the destructive effects of human-caused climate change in New Jersey become more prominent. We've faced record-breaking drought, wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, and heat waves. Fossil fuel companies should be held liable for their role in creating an increasingly unstable environment in our state. The money from Climate Superfund will help us confront climate change head-on, invest in clean alternative energy, and protect our communities from future environmental disasters.”
“New Jerseyans have been paying the price for climate chaos for decades — in higher taxes, higher insurance premiums, and devastating losses to homes and livelihoods,” said Matt Smith, New Jersey State Director at Food & Water Watch. “Meanwhile, the biggest fossil fuel corporations are raking in record profits while fueling the very disasters that are battering our state. The Climate Superfund Act flips the script: Polluters should pay, not the public. With the federal government cutting climate funding and the costs mounting every year, our Legislature must act now to make Big Oil clean up the mess they made.”
“For years, New Jersey has suffered as a result of the careless actions of large corporate polluters,” said Senator and co-sponsor Linda Greenstein. “The Climate Superfund Act will hold big fossil fuel companies accountable for their role in causing the increasingly damaging effects of climate change. From devastating heatwaves to more severe storms, it is clear that our communities will need more funding to mitigate the impact of these disasters in the future. The polluters causing the damage should be the ones to pay for it.”
“For towns at the Jersey Shore, the Climate Superfund Act is a bill that absolutely must become law,” said John Weber, Bradley Beach Councilman. “Climate change has already cost the homeowners and taxpayers in my town plenty, and we all know that more expensive storms and rain events are coming. A fund that all municipalities can access after catastrophic storms is the only fair way to face our new climate reality.”
“New Jersey championed the creation of the Superfund program to clean up our toxic sites more than 40 years ago; it’s time that we have a Superfund program for our climate disasters,” said Doug O'Malley, Director of Environment New Jersey. “We are not going to see more federal funding to mitigate climate impacts – it’s time for New Jersey to hold our largest climate polluters accountable to protect our communities from extreme weather events. In this summer of flooding and extreme thunderstorms, it is time for the Legislature to commit to passing this bill by the end of the year.”
New Jersey has experienced 75 billion-dollar climate disasters since 1980, with the frequency and cost of extreme weather accelerating in recent years. Revenue from the Climate Superfund Act would fund projects to fortify infrastructure, protect public health, safeguard natural resources, and create thousands of good-paying jobs in climate resilience.
About EmpowerNJ:
EmpowerNJ is a coalition of over 150 environmental, civic, faith and progressive groups calling on the state to act quickly to address climate change by stopping all pending fossil fuel projects and implementing policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% from 2010 levels by 2030. EmpowerNJ is led by a Steering Committee of organizations including BlueWave NJ, Clean Water Action, Don’t Gas the Meadowlands Coalition, Environment New Jersey, and Food & Water Watch. www.empowernewjersey.com
About Clean Water Action
Clean Water Action is a national 501(c)(4) environmental organization with nearly one million members nationwide. Since our founding during the campaign to pass the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972, Clean Water Action has worked to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking and people power to the table. Learn more at cleanwater.org.
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