§ 596 — Definitions

As used in this chapter:
(1) “Agency” means the Agency of Natural Resources.
(2) “Climate change adaptation project” means a project designed to respond to, avoid, moderate, repair, or adapt to negative impacts caused by climate change and to assist human and natural communities, households, and businesses in preparing for future climate-change-driven disruptions. Climate change adaptation projects include implementing nature-based solutions and flood protections; home buyouts; upgrading stormwater drainage systems; making defensive upgrades to roads, bridges, railroads, and transit systems; preparing for and recovering from extreme weather events; undertaking preventive health care programs and providing medical care to treat illness or injury caused by the effects of climate change; relocating, elevating, or retrofitting sewage treatment plants and other infrastructure vulnerable to flooding; installing energy efficient cooling systems and other weatherization and energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits in public and private buildings, including schools and public housing, designed to reduce the public health effects of more frequent heat waves and forest fire smoke; upgrading parts of the electrical grid to increase stability and resilience, including supporting the creation of self-sufficient microgrids; and responding to toxic algae blooms, loss of agricultural topsoil, crop loss, and other climate-driven ecosystem threats to forests, farms, fisheries, and food systems.
(3) “Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program” means the program established by this chapter.
(4) “Coal” means bituminous coal, anthracite coal, and lignite.
(5)(A) “Controlled group” means two or more entities treated as a single employer under:
(i) 26 U.S.C. § 52(a) or (b), without regard to 26 U.S.C. § 1563(b)(2)(C); or
(ii) 26 U.S.C. § 414(m) or (o).
(B) For purposes of this chapter, entities in a controlled group are treated as a single entity for purposes of meeting the definition of responsible party and are jointly and severally liable for payment of any cost recovery demand owed by any entity in the controlled group.
(6) “Cost recovery demand” means a charge asserted against a responsible party for cost recovery payments under the Program for payment to the Fund.
(7) “Covered greenhouse gas emissions” means the total quantity of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, expressed in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, resulting from the use of fossil fuels extracted or refined by an entity during the covered period.
(8) “Covered period” means the period that began on January 1, 1995 and ended on December 31, 2024.
(9) “Crude oil” means oil or petroleum of any kind and in any form, including bitumen, oil sands, heavy oil, conventional and unconventional oil, shale oil, natural gas liquids, condensates, and related fossil fuels.
(10) “Entity” means any individual, trustee, agent, partnership, association, corporation, company, municipality, political subdivision, or other legal organization, including a foreign nation, that holds or held an ownership interest in a fossil fuel business during the covered period.
(11) “Environmental justice focus population” has the same meaning as in 3 V.S.A. § 6002.
(12) “Fossil fuel” means coal, petroleum products, and fuel gases.
(13) “Fossil fuel business” means a business engaging in the extraction of fossil fuels or the refining of petroleum products.
(14) “Fuel gases” or “fuel gas” means:
(A) methane;
(B) natural gas;
(C) liquified natural gas; and
(D) manufactured fuel gases.
(15) “Fund” means the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program Fund established pursuant to section 599 of this title.
(16) “Greenhouse gas” has the same meaning as in section 552 of this title.
(17) “Nature-based solutions” means projects that utilize or mimic nature or natural processes and functions and that may also offer environmental, economic, and social benefits while increasing resilience. Nature-based solutions include both green and natural infrastructure.
(18) “Notice of cost recovery demand” means the written communication from the Agency informing a responsible party of the amount of the cost recovery demand payable to the Fund.
(19) “Petroleum product” means any product refined or re-refined from:
(A) synthetic or crude oil; or
(B) crude oil extracted from natural gas liquids or other sources.
(20) “Program” means the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program established under this chapter.
(21) “Qualifying expenditure” means an authorized payment from the Fund to pay reasonable expenses associated with the administration of the Fund and the Program and to pay for a climate change adaptation project, including its operation, monitoring, and maintenance.
(22) “Responsible party” means any entity or a successor in interest to an entity that during any part of the covered period was engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil fuel or refining crude oil and is determined by the Agency attributable to for more than one billion metric tons of covered greenhouse gas emissions. The term responsible party does not include any person who lacks sufficient connection with the State to satisfy the nexus requirements of the U.S. Constitution.
(23) “Strategy” means the Resilience Implementation Strategy adopted by the Agency. (Added 2023, No. 122 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. July 1, 2024; amended 2025, No. 47, § 22, eff. June 5, 2025.)