LOS ANGELES, Calif. — As Californians grapple with the aftermath of devastating wildfires, a pressing question looms: Who will bear the financial burden of rebuilding the Los Angeles area? While some point to politicians, others are calling for fossil fuel producers to be held accountable.

Christina Scaringe, California Climate Policy Director for the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute based in Sacramento, said they are working on a climate superfund bill aimed at holding major fossil fuel companies responsible for their climate impacts.

“It’s not really about fault,” Scaringe said. “It’s sort of based on a strict liability. If you made a mess, you pay to clean up proportional to the mess that you caused.”

Scaringe emphasized that the bill is about fairness and affordability for Californians. “Up to now and without change, all the burden is on Californians,” she said. “California taxpayers are paying those costs. When they say we’re getting money from FEMA, that’s California taxpayers. When they say the state is sending another $2.5 billion for the fires, that’s California taxpayers.”

The proposed climate superfund bill would task the California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with identifying major fossil fuel companies operating in the state, such as Chevron and Exxon, although they say specific companies are not going to be named in the legislation. The California EPA would then conduct a comprehensive study on the costs of climate impacts to the state.

This initiative follows similar laws in states like New York and Vermont, which have passed climate superfund laws to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for pollution impacts on their communities.

Scaringe noted the growing popularity of such legislation.

“We’re seeing an increase in these sorts of legislation because the climate attribution science has really advanced,” she said. “We can really pinpoint the exacerbations and the causes of climate change by fossil fuel polluters. We can look at the publicly reported data by these fossil fuel polluters, and it’s really a fairly small subset of companies that have emitted and caused the most to create the climate crisis that we are finding ourselves in.”

The financial challenge of rebuilding and recovery in the Los Angeles area is significant, with AccuWeather analysts estimating damage and economic loss between $250 billion and $275 billion. Scaringe argued that this is not a large percentage of fossil fuel companies’ profits and that they should cover the costs of the impacts they are responsible for and that the burden shouldn’t be put on the backs of hardworking Californians as it usually is while they go though this immensely difficult time.

She added that the bill is about fairness, reasonableness, and investing in infrastructure and climate for a more environmentally sustainable future.