California Democrats are pushing to force state oil and gas firms to pay for the damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires, saying that fossil fuel emissions were responsible for the tragic calamity.
If passed, the Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act, sponsored by Democrats, would allow “victims of climate disasters,” such as the Los Angeles fires, and insurance groups to sue oil and gas companies for damages because their emissions caused the raging fires.
Democrat state Sen. Scott Wiener, who sponsored the bill this week, stated that fossil fuel companies must pay for fire damage since they are “driving the climate crisis.”
“Californians shouldn’t be the only ones to pay the costs of devastating climate disasters. From last year’s floods to the fires in LA, we know that the fossil fuel industry bears ultimate responsibility for fueling these disasters,” state Sen. Scott Wiener wrote in a post on X announcing the legislation.
The initiative, which has the support of numerous state legislators, comes as Democrats have attempted to blame recent fires on climate change rather than state and city policies, which have come under fire in the weeks since the catastrophic inferno.
Just months before the disaster, the city of Los Angeles cut fire department funding by more than $17 million. The Los Angeles fire chief stated that there are “not enough firefighters in L.A. County to address four separate fires of this magnitude.”
“We pay the highest taxes in California. Our fire hydrants were empty. Our vegetation was overgrown, brush not cleared. Our reservoirs were emptied by our governor because tribal leaders wanted to save fish. Our fire department budget was cut by our mayor. But thank god drug addicts are getting their drug kits,” actress Sara Foster wrote in a post on X. “@MayorOfLA @GavinNewsom RESIGN. Your far-left policies have ruined our state. And also our party.”
Trump utilized the power of his pen this week to issue an executive order to bypass the state’s environmental rules to create more water availability in the L.A. area.
In the executive order released on Sunday, Trump called on federal agencies to ignore restrictions possibly limiting water availability in the area, such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which attempts to minimize water infrastructure to conserve particular fish species, such as the Delta smelt.
The decision comes only weeks after Trump accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, of prioritizing the protection of an endangered fish species over the state’s citizens during the wildfires.
