By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – As the state enters peak hurricane season – which lasts through October – environmental advocates and elected officials from the Two River area rallied Monday at Riverside Gardens Park to urge Gov. Phil Murphy, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and Senate President Nick Scutari to pass the Climate Superfund Act before the legislative session ends in January 2026.
The bill, currently before the state legislature, would impose financial liability on certain fossil fuel companies – those most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions – for damages caused by climate change.
The bill would establish a program within the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to collect and distribute compensatory payments from assessed oil and gas companies to fund climate resiliency projects that support communities facing flooding, rising sea levels, extreme heat, and other impacts of climate change.
“The Climate Superfund Act can and will make a positive difference for this state and the folks who live in it,” said Molly Cleary, an environmental advocate with Clean Water Action, the nonprofit that organized the event.
Sen. Vin Gopal (D-11), one of the bill’s sponsors, told attendees he views the legislation as a means to counter corporate neglect. “We’ve seen parallels across different areas, especially with our energy costs going up with all these AI centers that are coming in, and we’re seeing more and more usage out of them,” Gopal said. “Same thing is happening here with polluters, companies that know exactly what they’re doing when they’re building and they’re building and they’re building, and there’s nothing there to make sure all of us are protected at the end of the day. So, I stand with you in solidarity.”
Mayor Billy Portman reminded attendees that Red Bank was among the first municipalities to back the proposal. “I really just want to encourage you to keep this fight up,” he said.
Amy Goldsmith, Clean Water Action’s state director, said the bill is modeled on past efforts to hold industries financially accountable for the damage they caused. “Big oil and big gas – they’re the ones who knew all along, like the tobacco industry, like the opioid industry, they knew all along about the damage that they were doing, about the emissions they were foisting upon us – the sea level rise, the flooding,” Goldsmith said. “They knew it all was going to come. And they did it anyway. And they didn’t really tell anybody, they didn’t want to pay for it. So, they want us to pay for it, and we’re not going to do it.”
Assemblywoman Margie Donlon (D- 11), a physician and mother, said her support was personal. “As a physician, as a mom and as a surfer, I see climate change from several deeply personal perspectives,” she said. “On the water, I have watched firsthand how rising seas and stronger storms are reshaping our coastline. In my profession, I’ve seen how these changes threaten the health and safety for families across New Jersey. And as a mom, I worry about the world that we are leaving for our kids and their kids.”
Assemblywoman Luanne Peterpaul (D- 11) added, “We do need to take steps forward to clean up what others have done to our beautiful, amazing state.” As a representative of coastal communities, she has seen “areas in Long Branch that are flooding that never flooded before. What happened in Asbury Park, where businesses were closed because of the flooding? We need to take these steps forward.”
The proposed law is modeled after the 1980 federal Superfund program, which forced polluting industries to finance the cleanup of toxic waste.
Several states strained by increasing climate disasters are now pushing for a shift in environmental liability and looking to legislate oil and gas companies into footing the bill. The funds are dedicated to supporting flood protection, coastal defenses, infrastructure repair and community recovery after extreme climate destruction.
In 2023, Vermont became the first state to enact a Climate Superfund Law, followed by New York in 2024.
“I don’t like when New York beats us to anything,” Red Bank Deputy Mayor Kate Triggiano said. She recalled living in Highlands during Super Storm Sandy.
“I looked at friends of mine that were pregnant, standing where porches used to be, where they had just bought their homes and they had nothing,” she said. “And to know with certainty, to know as fact that these companies knew that they were doing this to people is abhorrent. It’s abhorrent. This is not a Democrat issue. This is not a Republican issue. This is an issue of an oligarchy. It is time to make them pay,” Triggiano said.
John Aspray, a senior organizer with Food and Water Watch, led chants of “Make polluters pay.” He called the legislation the most urgent priority before lawmakers. “For them, it’s about risk and reward. We get all the risk, they get all the reward,” he said of fossil fuel companies. “But with the Climate Superfund Act, we can make them pay their fair share.”
Ben Dziobeck, executive director of Climate Revolution Action Network, urged lawmakers to pass the measure this year. “We need a fund to make sure that we can do these beach replenishments,… to build flood pumps to protect shorelines and to keep homes safe and businesses open,” Dziobeck said. “We cannot expect local governments to carry these costs alone. That’s why we need solutions like the Climate Superfund Act to make polluters pay for the damage they have caused.”
The article originally appeared in the September 25 – October 1, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
