TRENTON, NJ — Hundreds of New Jersey residents, community leaders, and environmental advocates — joined by several key state legislators and world-renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben — packed the State House Annex today for the Climate Superfund Day of Action, urging the Legislature to pass the New Jersey Climate Superfund Act (S3545/A4696) before Governor Murphy’s term ends.

The rally — headlined by McKibben and featuring speakers from across the state — was organized by a broad coalition of environmental, labor, faith, and community organizations. Participants and lawmakers alike highlighted the urgent need to hold the fossil-fuel industry accountable for the worsening floods, storms, and heat waves battering New Jersey communities.

The Climate Superfund Act would require the largest oil and gas corporations to pay their fair share of the costs of climate damages, directing funds into resilience, adaptation, and public-infrastructure projects across the state. The bill has cleared key committees in both the Senate and Assembly and now awaits final committee review and floor votes in both chambers.

“Central Jersey taxpayers and flood victims need a break. We’re in an affordability crisis and climate change is a significant contributing factor. This bill ensures those that have benefited the most and reaped billions from emitting the pollutants causing the damage pay more of their fair share of the costs and needed mitigation,” said NJ Senate co-sponsor and Legislative Oversight Chair Andrew Zwicker (Ph.D. [Physics] and D-Princeton).

“New Jersey families are paying the price for decades of corporate pollution, while the oil and gas companies responsible are making record profits,” said Matt Smith, New Jersey State Director at Food & Water Watch. “The Climate Superfund Act is about fairness and accountability. Governor Murphy and legislative leaders have a simple choice: make polluters pay, or make the rest of us keep footing the bill.”

“A tough choice for Garden State legislators: Ask taxpayers to foot the ever-mounting bill for climate damage, or ask Big Oil, which made Big Money cooking the planet,” said Bill McKibben, Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College.

“Working people are already paying the price for climate disasters — from lost workdays during extreme heat to higher local taxes to repair damaged infrastructure,” said Todd Vachon, President of the Middlesex County (AFL-CIO) Central Labor Council. “The Climate Superfund Act is a commonsense way to hold corporate polluters accountable while investing in the climate-resilient infrastructure New Jersey communities desperately need. This legislation will create good union jobs, protect our workers and communities, and ensure that the costs of climate change are borne by the companies responsible, not by the men and women who keep this state running.”

“For far too long, New Jerseyans have had to bear the brunt of the cost of the climate crisis, whether it be monetarily or with their lives,” said Molly Cleary, Environmental Advocate at Clean Water Action. “The fossil fuel industry has greatly profited from the pain they have caused. It is time they use those funds to make a more climate resilient future for New Jersey. Clean Water Action is proud to be a part of the Empower New Jersey coalition and making our mark in the fight to make polluters pay!”

“Immigrant and working-class communities are already bearing the full cost of climate chaos — from flooded homes to lost wages when storms shut us down,” said Vicky Montalvo, Make The Road New Jersey member from Perth Amboy. “The Climate Superfund Act means the fossil-fuel giants finally begin paying their fair share instead of our families picking up the tab. We stand with local governments and residents to demand justice and resilience for every neighborhood.”

“The Climate Superfund Act will deliver what New Jersey communities have been begging for — updated water infrastructure, a more reliable grid, clean energy projects, better roads and bridges, and real climate justice. And as I’ve said before, municipalities are being forced to shoulder the cost of cleanup alone while the corporations that created this crisis walk away untouched,” said ImaniNia Burton, Environmental Justice Director for Climate Revolution Action Network. “The future I see for us is clear. We deserve clean air. We deserve access to clean water. We deserve climate justice, and our future depends on real resiliency and mitigation projects. Young people and working families are being left to foot the bill for a crisis we didn’t create. If you break it, you buy it — and it’s time the polluters who caused this disaster finally pay up.”

“Economic and racial justice cannot be achieved while climate destruction continues to hit the poorest communities the hardest,” said Lawrence Hamm, Chairman of People’s Organization for Progress. “Local governments are under strain as flood damage and extreme storms increase. The Climate Superfund Act is a critical step toward shifting the burden from taxpayers in frontline neighborhoods to the corporations whose pollution created the crisis.”

Speakers from organizations including Food & Water Watch, Empower NJ, Clean Water Action, NJ Working Families Party, UU Faith Action, League of Women Voters NJ, Third Act, BlueWave NJ, and others underscored the stakes for communities statewide — from coastal towns facing rising seas to inland neighborhoods repeatedly flooded by extreme storms.

The coalition stressed that passing the Climate Superfund Act this session would make New Jersey a national leader in demanding that corporate polluters — not taxpayers — bear the financial burden of the climate crisis.