This Halloween season, there’s nothing scarier than the truth: fossil fuel polluters are fueling the climate crisis, but Connecticut taxpayers are the ones footing the bill. From floods to extreme heat to crop losses, climate disasters are hitting our communities harder each year and the costs are piling up. Instead of holding the biggest polluters accountable, the burden keeps landing on families, small businesses, and local governments. That’s why Sierra Club Connecticut is fighting for a Climate Superfund in Connecticut, a policy that makes the biggest fossil fuel companies most responsible for climate change pay their fair share for the damage they’ve caused.

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Climate Superfund bills are state-level legislation that require major fossil fuel companies to help pay  for climate-related damages and adaptation measures. These bills ensure that companies responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions contribute to addressing the climate crisis they helped create. The bills establish a program to collect funds from the biggest polluting companies to help the state pay for climate-related damages and adaptation measures. Importantly, funds will be prioritized for projects that benefit communities hit hardest by fossil fuel pollution and climate change.

 

In Connecticut alone, extreme weather fueled by climate change caused $53 million in losses to Connecticut farms in 2023 and 2024; extreme rainfall brought catastrophic flooding and is estimated to have caused $300 million dollars in damages in August of 2024; in September of 2024 during a historic fall drought, brush fires ran rampant across the state and one specific fire in Berlin, which involved out-of-state crews and helicopter water drops, is estimated to have cost between $1 million and $5 million according to CT Insider; and according to the Center for Climate Integrity, $5.3 billion is the minimum downpayment for short term defense against rising sea levels by 2040. 

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Federal programs providing disaster assistance have become overwhelmed by the relentless increase in the scope and costs of climate-induced disasters around the country. In May 2025, the Trump administration abruptly canceled the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which had provided billions in grants to help states and towns prepare for floods, wildfires, hurricanes, and other extreme weather. This bipartisan-supported program was a lifeline for communities struggling to keep up with the escalating costs of climate disasters. Now, with federal funding slashed, states like Connecticut are left with fewer tools and resources just as climate impacts worsen.

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This is exactly why we need a Climate Superfund in Connecticut. With Washington walking away from its responsibilities, we can’t keep leaving the bill for climate damages to taxpayers, municipalities, and already overstretched state budgets. 

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For decades, fossil fuel companies have played the role of villains knowing the truth about climate change, hiding it, and lying about the dangers while profiting from pollution. Now, the biggest contributors to the climate crisis want to leave us haunted by the costs. But the real fright this Halloween isn’t ghosts or goblins — it’s letting fossil fuel polluters escape accountability. With 71% of voters, including a majority across party lines supporting action to make oil and gas companies pay for the damages they’ve caused, the message is clear: it’s time to end this nightmare and make the polluters pay. 

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You can help by sending an email to your lawmakers urging them to pass the Climate Superfund this session.

Julianna Larue is an organizer at Sierra Club Connecticut, focusing on our state legislative efforts.