Make Polluters Pay!
A year ago in the Fall 2024 edition of Berkeley Speaks, we wrote about Measure GG, or “Go Green!” This measure would have taxed owners of the large buildings in Berkeley for the climate pollution generated by their use of methane, or “natural gas.” The proceeds from the tax, estimated at up to half a billion dollars over the next 25 years, were to be used primarily for electrification of homes and small buildings, prioritizing historically marginalized neighborhoods.
GG did not pass due to a large influx of outside real estate and business money into the “No on GG” campaign, and the opposition of most of the local political elite. The election result was a blow to hopes of funding a green transition in Berkeley.
But climate activists in Berkeley and around the state continue to fight for the health of the planet. This article discusses two urgent initiatives, both of which need public support:
- Make Polluters Pay!
- Stop Drilling on California Public and Indigenous Lands!
Make Polluters Pay! The Climate Superfund Act
There is a proposal being considered in the legislature that would accomplish some of the same objectives on a larger, statewide level. It’s called “Polluters Pay,” and it needs your help.
Here is a summary of the bill from CalMatters, a Sacramento news outlet:
“The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025 would make the world’s largest sources of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels financially responsible for the damage caused by wildfires, droughts and other events exacerbated by the warming climate.
“The idea adopts the “Superfund” model — created by Congress in 1980 to clean up the nation’s worst toxic waste sites — and applies it to greenhouse gases, aiming to hold companies financially accountable for emissions that drive climate change.”
This measure is a fine, not a fee or a tax. That makes it easier to pass and is not subject to a vote of the people, or a super-majority of the legislature. In California, $113 billion annual climate costs are conservatively estimated by the year 2050. But in early 2025, the massive fires in Los Angeles alone cost an estimated $250 billion.
Climate Health Now says the bill would generate more than $150 billion over a period of 20 years. The bill requires the state to quantify the costs of climate damages in California. The fines are limited to 5% of a company’s profits. The bill dedicates 40% of the revenues to low income impacted communities for mitigation and adaptation. The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act (PPCSF) is strategic for climate action in a couple of ways.
- Those who willfully undermine and neglect the health, housing, economy, and the very lives of California’s people must be held to account. Large-scale fines are one appropriate punishment to compel them to cease their environmental destruction.
- The large-scale fines expected from this bill will help those least able to pay for decarbonizing their energy sources. They can fund conversion of small buildings including homes, small businesses, churches, and non-profit organizations. These conversion activities not only contribute to slowing climate change, but will also reduce toxic air pollution in homes and local communities.
As with Berkeley’s Measure GG, the climate wins either way: if the fines from the Polluters Pay Superfund persuade the fossil fuel industry to cease its planet-destroying business, or if they fund local climate mitigation. Or both.
Environmental justice is a combination of environmentalism with racial justice and economic justice. This proposed project is a triple win–for climate mitigation, financial assistance to low-income families, and preservation of racial diversity. In addition to climate action, it promotes public health in removing poisonous by-products of burning methane gas in homes.
The Climate Superfund is a state-level program and does not depend on federal funding, which is impossible under the current administration.
The Superfund bill is a grassroots-driven movement. It has one more strategic benefit: it is a way to mobilize climate and health activists into a campaign with a good chance of winning and making a concrete difference. Then, it is likely to have a significant effect on other states to take similar steps.
Proponents expect that the (AB1243 in the Assembly and SB684 in the Senate) will be heard in one of the Judiciary Committees in January 2026.
This bill is a heavy lift, because the oil companies have already spent $17 million in 2025 to defeat it. It needs your help to pass. Grassroots, youth-led action in support of the bill is spreading around the state, as you can see from these videos, shared by 350 Bay Area:
“On Friday, October 24th, youth across California held a state-wide Walkout to demand the passage of the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund bill. In Oakland, we held a critical role in organizing a youth-led march and rally through downtown.”
Here is a quick way that anyone can help get Sacramento to act for the climate: Sign the petition at CA MPP petition!
Here are some resources to share broadly:
- California “Make Polluters Pay” flyer
- Good introduction from the national campaign
- Infographic showing Oil Profits vs. Superfund Fee
Stop Drilling on California Public and Indigenous Lands!
Public federal lands across California could soon be opened up to new oil and gas drilling. These are lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) — from Ventura County to Alameda County and also unceded Indigenous lands. The counties within the red boundary below are at risk for new oil and gas drilling on public lands.
The BLM is preparing new environmental reviews that could pave the way for expanded oil and gas drilling across more than one million acres.
Climate Health Now (CHN) is a group of health professionals who see the toxic effects of fossil fuels and rampant climate changes. They are circulating this petition to oppose new drilling on our California public and Indigenous lands, and ask everyone to sign and circulate it.
CHN emphasizes, “This plan is the next front in this federal administration’s full-fledged assault on our public lands and the next step in the disastrous ‘drill, baby, drill’ agenda. If approved, this plan could lock in DECADES of new toxic oil drilling, in wild spaces that should be open to all, or near frontline communities who already live with the deadly impacts of air pollution, water contamination, and environmental injustice. This is all while California faces record heat, drought, and wildfires driven by climate change.
“This BLM process in California aligns with Secretary’s Order 3418, supporting the President’s call for “Unleashing American Energy,” aimed at increasing energy exploration and production on federal lands. The order emphasizes development of oil, gas, coal, strategic minerals, and alternative energy sources on public lands.
“This Fall through Winter (exact dates are currently suspended because of the government shutdown, but likely November 2025 – January 2026) there will be another months-long public comment period, and likely an in-person public comment meeting at both the Marina, CA and the Bakersfield, CA BLM offices– on the draft supplemental environmental impact statements (SEIS) and potential resource management plan amendments (RMPA) related to oil and gas leasing and development in California.”