Reporting by Regina Martinez

David Vassar stepped out of his Morningside Heights apartment and looked west, where an unnatural orange glow blurred the outlines of distant buildings. He was stunned. The smell of smoke was inescapable.

Every day, he bikes from 125th Street to his job at the Fordham University Library, enjoying the familiar rhythm of the city awakening around him. That June morning in 2023, however, was different. The air felt oppressive. He wore a surgical N95 mask as he pedaled the 65 blocks down the Hudson River Greenway. 

“I’m a cyclist. I love to bike. But the air was literally not breathable,” said Vassar.

A year later, on Nov. 25, he biked the Greenway again, this time heading to the Financial District to advocate for climate action. 

At 89 South St., he joined a group of people gathered around a borough-color-coded map. The graphic highlighted the historic 215 brush fires reported in New York City between Oct. 29 and Nov. 14.

Vassar combed his fingers through his white hair down to his beard. He picked up a sign that read “OFF FOSSIL FUELS” and held it against his beige canvas jacket and blue jeans. Nodding his head, he stood alongside bill sponsor state Sen. Liz Krueger and Assemblyman Jeffery Dinowitz while they looked into a camera and urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign the Climate Change Superfund Act. 

If passed, the bill would make New York state second in the nation, after Vermont, to require some of the largest fossil fuel companies—including ExxonMobil, Chevron, and BP—to contribute $75 billion over the next 25 years toward climate adaptation projects. Some projects include upgrading drainage systems and transit systems; preparing for and recovering from extreme weather events; undertaking preventive health care programs; and providing medical treatment to those affected by climate change.

The bill passed the state Senate on May 7 and the Assembly on June 8. Now, with only a month left in the year, it awaits the governor’s signature. If Hochul does not take action, the bill will face an automatic pocket veto—an indirect veto where the governor neither signs nor formally rejects the bill, allowing it to expire.

“Hochul has a choice to make: side with New York taxpayers or the fossil fuel industry. We cannot fathom why she wouldn’t side with us,” said Eric Weltman, a senior organizer at Food and Water Watch who hosted the South Street event.

To Weltman and other attendees, Hochul’s choice may seem obvious. But this isn’t the case for everyone. 

John Ravitz, executive vice president of the Business Council of Westchester, criticized the bill as poorly written. He expressed concerns that the bill could lead gas and oil companies to shift costs onto consumers or even exit New York, taking jobs with them.

“The legislation operates retroactively. It’s not like they were doing anything wrong at the time,” said Ravitz in an interview on Nov. 26. “You can’t tax your way out of climate change.”

Ravitz did not specify when these companies became aware of climate damage, but research indicates that the fossil fuel industry recognized it as early as 1954. 

The Superfund bill would target companies that emitted over 1 billion metric tons of CO2 between 2000 and 2018. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will be responsible for assessing sunk costs–expenses already incurred and unrecoverable–and the marginal cost should remain unaffected. 

Robert Plattner, a nationally recognized expert in state and local tax policy, said price increases are unlikely, but the bill doesn’t require companies to seek approval before raising costs. 

“You know it’s a free market, a world market,” said Plattner during an information session.

The masterlist of companies to be assessed is based on their size and if they sell products in New York State– regardless of where they’re headquartered. Most, if not all, of the companies in question—such as ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, and BP—are not based in New York. Furthermore, the Labor Department says fewer than 5, 000 New Yorkers are employed in mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction. 

“They don’t even exist here. They have gas stations, but trust me they’ll keep selling us oil and gas as long as we’re buying it,” said Krueger at the South Street event.

Krueger, who is also Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, is emphasizing that taxpayers have bigger concerns than potential price increases at the gas pump. 

The Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) estimates that the total cost of climate change adaptation for New York State will exceed $500 billion. They report that in 2023, taxpayers contributed an average of $300 per household. Without the Superfund Act, these costs are projected to rise to $4,000 per person over the next 25 years. 

Money collected through the proposed legislation would go to major initiatives such as the $52 billion dollar sea wall, which was proposed by the federal government to safeguard Manhattan from collapsing into rising water. This project is among several other large-scale infrastructure efforts intended to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the region.

In contrast, the eight largest fossil fuel companies collectively earned $389 billion in profits in 2022. Therefore, the annual fee of $3 billion would represent less than 0.8% of their collective earnings. ExxonMobil did not respond to requests for comment.

“$3 billion a year is a drop in the bucket for them,” said Assemblyman Dinowitz at the South Street event.

He noted that the Senate vote was largely divided along party lines which he said is unfortunate, given that climate change affects every district, regardless of whether they are run by Democrats or Republicans. Pertaining to the likelihood of Hochul signing the bill, he acknowledges the presence of competing interests. 

“I’m not a betting man,” said Dinowitz. 

Vassar is betting on legislators to deliver.

He attended the event for his 25-year-old son, Ben, and for the students he works with at the Fordham University Library. 

Vassars’ face grew serious as he furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the pavement.

“Kids are going to class and doing their coursework but there’s this underlying current of increased anxiety,” said Vassar. “It’s incumbent on me and I think my generation basically to step up and do all we can with our remaining time.”