OJTA and over 200 partners & community members advocate for Making Polluters Pay!
What is the Climate Resilience Superfund?
Oregonians are all too familiar with the effects of greenhouse gas emissions and large fossil fuel polluters impacting the state. Specifically, the 2020 Labor Day fires burned over 1 million acres of Oregon old growth forest, and caused over $11.2 billion in economic damages and over 100 people died in the June 2021 heat dome. Yet, earlier this month, the Trump administration revoked the Endangerment Finding which allowed the EPA’s to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and their impacts on public health as well as the environment. For many Oregonians, especially frontline communities who already carry the burden of climate impacts, there is a sense of urgency to pass this legislation at the state level in order to protect Oregonians from paying the price. Three other states have passed similar legislation: Vermont, Maryland, and New York and about a dozen other states are considering a similar concept in their own legislatures. Nationally, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia are pursuing similar legislation.
This is why OJTA has prioritized the Make Polluters Pay – Climate Resilience Fund as our top policy priority for the 2026 short session, SB 1541 would require the biggest fossil fuel polluters with activity in Oregon to pay a proportion of damage from carbon dioxide pollution from the period of 1995 to 2024. Perhaps more importantly, 30% of the funds generated must be allocated to state wildfire prevention and mitigation efforts and the remaining 70% goes to climate resilience and adaptation with a screen to ensure that 40% directly goes back into environmental justice communities. We view this policy as a longer term solution to Oregon’s budget challenges for state challenges that are not going to go away.
In Oregon alone, extreme weather events cost upwards of a billion dollars per year. Oregon’s fire season in 2018 generated roughly $6.6 billion in costs, which is estimated at $3,900 per household. The heat wave in 2021 totaled between $1.6 and $4.6 billion dollars, resulting in fatalities across the state. In 2024, climate-fueled wildfires burned nearly 2 million acres and cost Oregon over $350 million dollars. We risk losing over $450 million in ecosystem services each year. The state’s Douglas fir die-off in Southern Oregon is eliminating carbon sequestration services worth over $100 million per year. The effects of greenhouse gas emissions have been and will continue to impact Oregonians economic bottom line, overall economic well-being, and continue to grow without significant investments in adaptation and mitigation.
Over 200 community members show up!
As a result, in the real and highly visible way climate change is impacting life in Oregon, Oregonians are demanding that we hold fossil fuel polluters accountable and responsible. Over 1800 have signed the petition supporting the Climate Resilience Superfund before the first hearing of the bill on Feb. 2nd
This President’s Day (February 16th), over 200+ Oregonians from the Rogue Valley, Coast, Bend, Willamette Valley & Portland Metro attended our advocacy day. This included many of our youth ranging from elementary school to early college, speaking with Oregon legislators, telling their stories, and the importance of passing this bill!
Next steps
Take action today to write to your lawmaker today urging them to pass SB 1541 and make polluters pay for the damage they’ve caused to communities across Oregon.
