On August 25, 2025, ECBAWM and Tarrant, Gillies & Shems LLP filed an amici curiae brief on behalf of nine leading economists, including Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz, in United States v. Vermont and Chamber of Commerce and American Petroleum Institute v. Moore, two cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont.

The cases are challenges by the Trump administration, 24 states, and industry groups to Vermont’s first-of-its kind Climate Superfund Act, which holds major greenhouse gas emitters accountable for Vermont’s mounting climate mitigation and adaptation costs. The Act imposes a one-time, retrospective payment on a subset of fossil fuel companies (those responsible for more than one billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions each from 1995 to 2024) for their pro-rata share of pollution.

The amici are Professors Joseph E. Stiglitz, Clair Brown, Geoffrey Heal, Don Fullerton, John Isham, Donna Ramirez-Harrington, Menzie Chinn, Teresa Ghilarducci, and Marlene Kim.

In the brief, the amici provide an economic analysis explaining that the payments imposed by the Climate Superfund Act will not increase energy costs for consumers, reduce energy production levels, or impact government tax revenues. Because the payments imposed by the Act are based on past conduct and do not affect fossil fuel companies’ incentives going forward, the companies and their shareholders will absorb the Act’s costs without causing economic harm to consumers or governments.

On August 25, 2025, the District Court granted the economists’ motion for leave to file the briefs. You can find the two filed briefs here and here.

ECBAWM attorneys Matthew D. Brinckerhoff, Jonathan Abady, and Vivake Prasad represent the amici along with Tarrant, Gillies & Shems LLP in Montpelier, Vermont.

Press:
“Inside Trump’s Unorthodox Climate Attacks in Courts Nationwide,” NYTimes
“State and nonprofits ask federal courts to dismiss lawsuits against Climate Superfund Act,” Vermont Digger