A Bill for the 2026 Oregon State Legislative Session

Alan Journet, Cofacilitator, Southern Oregon Climate Action Now

Assuredly, wildfires have been occurring in Southern Oregon for millennia, indeed, since long before Native Americans settled here and started managing fire to enhance their landscape and promote the plants and animals upon which they rely.  Unfortunately, the fire risk has been increasing over recent years.  The reasons for this are probably two-fold. One reason is the imposition of fire suppression on our landscape, evident since the early years of the last century and strengthened by the Smokey Bear campaign launched in the 1940s.  The second reason is probably a climate that has, by turns, been favorable to wildfire initiation and spread as it passed through warm dry phases, and unfavorable as it passed through cooler moister phases.  These transitions were driven by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation PDO).  Over more recent decades, the PDO has been superseded in its influence by global warming which, since the 1970s/80s has imposed on the region a climate making it increasingly susceptibility to wildfire.  As a result of this combination of circumstances, we have experienced a trend towards megafires, a trend most obvious in the horrendous fire year of 2020 when the Almeda fire destroyed over 2500 homes and wrecked the lives of numerous families.

A 2012 study that related area burned to climatic conditions demonstrated a marked correlation between climatic conditions and area burned by fire going back some 3,000 years.  Regrettably, this same study show that the western states are now experiencing a profound fire deficit. This means that according to recent climatic conditions, we should be experiencing far greater area burned annually than is the case.  The evidence suggests that climate change is the dominant force promoting the recent increasing fire risk we are experiencing. 

In addition to the obvious devastation that fires have imposed on Southern Oregonians, dealing with them costs the states billions of dollars.  The 2021 heatwave is estimated to have cost Oregonians at least $1.3 billion dollars and caused over 100 deaths; in 2024 alone, climate-fueled wildfires burned nearly 2 million acres and cost Oregon over $350 million just in firefighting costs.  Meanwhile, the 2025 fire season cost the state some $97 million by the end of August. The problem is that these costs are currently borne by taxpayers.  Yet, if we seek the driving force behind the climatic events that stimulate fire conditions, we find the culprit is largely the combustion of fossil fuels.  In the business arena, the principle of generating corporate profits while imposing the cost of those profits on society as a whole is termed ‘externalizing the cost of doing business.’

The question we ask is simple: should those earning profits from a business model that imposes damage to and costs on society pay the price, or should those suffering the damage pay the price.  We argue that this is a no-brainer.   Southern Oregonians suffering fire damage should not be expected to pay the direct price that these fires impose on them as well as the price for fighting the fires. Indeed, the Oregon treasury is becoming increasingly unable to cover the cost. Rather, we argue, the costs should be paid by the corporations reaping enormous profits from the product that increases our fire risk.  This means that we should demand fossil fuel corporations pay into a fund that covers the cost of fighting the fires and reducing the likelihood that future fires will occur.

This is the essence of the ‘Make Polluters Pay’ bill, also known as the ‘Climate Superfund’ Bill being introduced into the Oregon Legislature during the 2026 session.  Essentially, corporations conducting business in Oregon, and responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, pay into a state fund a proportion of the cost of climate change to Oregon equivalent to the proportion of global greenhouse gases that their product emits.  The amount they pay is based on the cost of the damage these greenhouse gases impose on the state. That cost will be assessed by the State Department of Land Conservation and Development along with other state agencies. Thirty percent of funds will be allocating to the State Fire Marshal for wildfire prevention and mitigation projects while the remainder will be used for projects promoting climate resilience and adaptation with 40% specifically allocated to benefit environmental justice communities.

We urge Oregonians to encourage their state legislators to support this bill when it is introduced.

What the Bill does:

The Climate Resilience Superfund Bill ‘Make Polluters Pay’ would assign DLCD (as the lead agency), DEQ, OCAC, OCCRI the task of determining the cost to Oregon of greenhouse gas emissions. The proposal also establishes a Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program and account supervised by DLCD. Funds assigned to this account come from any entity that has done business in Oregon between Jan 1, 1995, and Dec 31, 2024, and is responsible for over one billion metric tons of covered greenhouse gas emissions globally. Such entities are responsible for paying into the Superfund a proportion of the cost to the state of global greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to their proportion of global emissions. These funds are distributed by DLCD to support climate change adaptation projects and are assigned 30% to the State Fire Marshal and 40% for climate change adaptation projects that benefit environmental justice communities.

One step everyone can take is to sign the support petition: Sign the Petition to Make Polluters Pay