Your support is needed! Urge state legislators to hold corporate polluters accountable for climate disasters like the LA fires by demanding passage of the climate superfund bill. It’s simple: fossil fuel polluters should pay for the climate damages their products inflicted on California. They shouldn’t get to dump their costs on the public, especially while making record profits.

The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund bill requires the state to carry out a study to quantify the costs of climate damages in California and establishes a fund into which fossil fuel polluters must pay to cover their fair share of those costs. The Climate Superfund Bill will protect all Californians if passed.  To ensure that happens, legislators need to hear your voice soon!  Since Martinez is home to one of the worst refinery polluters, we’re sending out an urgent plea to Central Contra Costa: Make Polluters Pay!

Polluters Direct Impact in Central County

• Refinery Impacts – If you live near the PBF Energy and Marathon Martinez Refinery facilities, you probably have experienced the sore throats, burning eyes, and toxic-laden ash produced by emissions from these plants. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District levied a $5 million fine against the Marathon plant for numerous air quality violations. 

• Wildfires – Many of our communities are near open space or wooded areas and at risk of wildfires, which have become more intense with climate warming caused by greenhouse gases. Residents of Moraga recently spoke out against a proposed housing development because it would add to the evacuation danger posed by the single road out of town.

• Sea Level Rise – Sections of the Capitol Corridor railroad line and I-680 in Martinez are at risk of inundation because melting glaciers caused by global warming are raising sea levels.

How the Climate Superfund Will Help

The money that the fossil fuel companies pay into the Climate Superfund can be used for a multitude of programs to mitigate and adapt to climate change, including:

• Climate-fueled disaster response and climate-resilient recovery 
• Accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels and to clean, renewable energy
• Home hardening to lessen the risk from wildfires
• Job training and support for workers impacted by climate change

Tell Your Legislator to Protect Central Contra Costa: Make Polluters Pay!

Central Costa Residents: If you live in Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, San Ramon, or Walnut Creek or surrounding areas, your Assembly Member Rebecca Bauer Kahan needs to hear from you. Kahan is a member of the Assembly’s Judicial Committee, which can pass the Superfund bill on for a vote by the full chamber or stop it dead.

Call the San Ramon office at (925) 244-1600 or the Sacramento office at (916) 319-2016. Or click the button below to submit your name and comment online. All you need to say is

 “I urge Assembly Member Kahan to support the Climate Superfund Bill, AB 1243.”