Sponsor
Adam Schiff
Senator · D-CA
Senator · D-CA
The bill increases protection of communities and vulnerable facilities from climate-driven risks at contaminated sites and reduces long-term cleanup and emergency costs, but imposes higher near-term planning, remedy, and administrative costs that could slow projects and strain local and federal budgets.
People living near contaminated sites (urban and rural communities) will get remediation plans that explicitly account for floods, storms, fires, and other climate-driven hazards, reducing the risk of pollutant release and exposure during extreme events.
Local governments and taxpayers will see remedial actions reassessed for projected climate-driven hazard increases, improving long-term protection and lowering the likelihood of costlier future cleanups and emergency responses.
Vulnerable populations — including people with disabilities and nearby hospitals/health systems — will be better protected because remedy selection must consider climate impacts and exposure risks during extreme events.
Local governments and communities may face more expensive remedial remedies, increasing funding needs and potentially diverting limited resources from other projects or communities.
Local governments and taxpayers could incur higher planning and compliance costs due to required additional hazard and climate projections, which may slow project timelines and increase near-term expenditures.
Federal employees and local governments may shoulder added administrative burden because the provision creates new executive-branch assessment duties that could require extra staffing, guidance, and coordination.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires that Superfund remedy selection and reviews explicitly consider local natural disasters, extreme weather, and projected climate-change-driven changes to those hazards.
Official title: Amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to provide for the consideration of climate change, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 14, 2026 by Adam Schiff · Last progress April 14, 2026
Requires the President, when choosing and later reviewing cleanup remedies at Superfund (CERCLA) sites, to explicitly consider risks from local natural disasters and extreme weather — and how those risks are projected to change because of climate change — to ensure selected remedies remain protective of human health and the environment. It adds this requirement as a new factor to consider when assessing cleanup alternatives and as an item to be evaluated during statutory reviews of selected remedies.