BOSTON — Smith College environmental justice advocates plan to deliver petitions to the Legislature’s Committee on Environmental and Natural Resources later this month, after recently dropping a banner saying “Make Polluters Pay” on the Lamont Bridge.
The student advocates recently dropped the banner to raise awareness for a bill that would create a fund to support groups impacted by environmental pollution.
According to Sen. James Eldridge, D-Malborough, one of the sponsors for the bill, the fund would be supported by a tax on fossil fuel corporations. This tax would be a “one-time fee” proportional to the company’s share of emissions from fossil fuels extracted between 1995 and 2024.
The students who participated in the banner drop identified with the Sunrise Movement, a nationwide student-led activist group dedicated to stopping climate change and promoting the Green New Deal policy, which pushes for net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Other Sunrise chapters at Mount Holyoke College, Harvard University and Tufts University also dropped banners on campus, while UMass Amherst students painted a mural saying, “Students rise up against pollution.”
Shira Nathan, a student organizer at Smith’s Sunrise Movement, insisted that the state government does not provide enough disaster relief funding to communities impacted by climate change issues.
“Climate change is here. The climate crisis is already affecting our communities. Western Mass. faced both extreme flooding and extreme droughts within like a five-year span,” Nathan said.
During the Smith College Sunrise banner drop, students gave speeches, marched to Lamont Bridge and gathered signatures for the “Make Polluters Pay” petition. This petition already surpassed the campaign’s goal of 5,000 signatures, and the campaign set a new goal of 7,000 signatures by Oct. 21.
The Northampton City Council passed a resolution to support the state’s climate superfund bill on April 17, becoming the first municipality in western Massachusetts to do so. Smith Sunrise students worked closely with At-Large Councilor Marissa Elkins and Ward Councilor Deborah Klemer, the sponsors of the resolution.
“It solidifies [Northampton’s] reputation as a leader,” said Emma Coopersmith, a Smith Sunrise student. “We hope to inspire other cities and also the state to do a similar thing.”
Jeanne Walker, vice president and special counsel of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, stated the bill would cost Massachusetts companies a “massive new retroactive fee” of up to $75 billion and would increase living costs for Massachusetts residents.
In an emailed statement, Eldridge expressed concern over the ongoing litigation in other states that have passed climate superfund laws, such as Vermont and New York.
“We know that this movement contradicts the Trump administration’s campaign to achieve so-called ‘energy dominance’ by polluting our environment and risking public health in expanding oil and gas projects, supporting the coal industry, and cutting promotion of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power,” Eldridge said.
Last year, a previous version of the bill failed to pass. The current bill expands the scope of climate projects supported by the superfund, including relief from extreme weather events and medical care treating illnesses or injuries caused or aggravated by the effects of climate change.
Additionally, Nathan said Sunrise chapters nationwide plan to do a walkout in protest of the current administration on Nov. 7, marking one year since President Donald Trump was elected.
Nathan explained the need for activism, in spite of their student schedule.
“My homework is due tomorrow, and the climate crisis is ongoing,” Nathan said.
Joanna Malvas writes for the Gazette as part of the Boston University Statehouse Program.