A new law in Vermont — the first of its kind in the U.S. — will require fossil fuel companies to pay for a share of the costs of weather disasters fueled by climate change. 

Republican Gov. Phil Scott allowed the bill to become law on Thursday night without his signature, after it passed in the state Legislature with the support of a supermajority of Democrats. 

Vermont’s law has been referred to as the “Climate Superfund Act” because it is modeled after the Environmental Protection Agency’s superfund program, which requires the companies responsible for environmental contamination to either do cleanup work themselves or reimburse the government for it. Vermont’s bill similarly mandates that big oil companies and other high emitters pay for the costs of recovering from and preparing for extreme weather caused by climate change. 

Which companies will be charged, and precisely how much, will be determined based […]