Fossil fuel companies to fund $100B climate resilience and disaster recovery

What it does

This bill imposes a one-time tax of up to $100 billion on fossil fuel companies based on their carbon dioxide emissions from 2000–2023, with the revenue directed to a new Polluters Pay Climate Fund. The fund will finance federal climate resilience, disaster recovery, adaptation infrastructure, and environmental justice initiatives, with 40% of annual spending reserved for communities disproportionately harmed by climate change. The bill explicitly preserves all existing legal remedies against fossil fuel companies for climate-related harms.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a one-time excise tax on historical fossil fuel emissions, with revenue dedicated to a new federal climate fund. It is fundamentally a revenue-raising and climate-finance instrument, not a regulatory or deregulatory measure.

What the text implies

• The tax applies only to companies responsible for >1 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions during 2000–2023, meaning it will affect a small number of large integrated oil, gas, and coal producers; smaller or regional operators may fall below the threshold.
• The bill allows a 9-year installment payment schedule (20% year 1, 10% annually thereafter), deferring most of the revenue impact to 2027–2034 and potentially reducing near-term fiscal impact.
• Section 5(c) explicitly prohibits use of Fund expenditures as evidence in climate liability litigation or to offset damages awards, creating a legal firewall between the tax and private tort claims—this preserves plaintiff leverage in state-court climate suits.
• The 40% environmental justice set-aside is mandatory but the remaining 60% is discretionary, subject to Secretary/EPA selection criteria; implementation will depend on appropriations and agency prioritization.
• The bill does not address international fossil fuel companies' U.S. operations or supply chains; the tax applies to extraction and refining within the U.S. or by U.S. persons, potentially creating competitive advantage for foreign producers.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Ordinary citizens and especially low-income and communities of color gain direct access to $100 billion in federal climate resilience, disaster recovery, and adaptation funding that would otherwise require general tax revenue or borrowing. The bill explicitly preserves all existing legal remedies against fossil fuel companies, so it does not shield polluters from accountability.

Named in the bill

Internal Revenue Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Treasury, Fossil fuel extraction companies, Crude oil refiners, Coal producers, Natural gas producers

Where it stands

6 cosponsors: 5 Democrats, 1 Independents.

• Jan 7, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• Jan 7, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

2 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $740,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 10 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.

Chris Van Hollen, the sponsor, reported $81,250 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American Trucking Associations — $720,000 on 1 filing
• American Tort Reform Association — $20,000 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.