New Jersey, home to many oil and gas producers, eyes fees to fight climate change [Video]

TRENTON, N.J. – It’s not an accident that “The Sopranos,” the quintessential show about New Jersey, opens with its main character driving past gasoline and oil storage tanks along the New Jersey Turnpike.

From the outskirts of New York to the Delaware River shoreline across from Philadelphia, New Jersey is home to numerous oil and natural gas facilities. They would be charged fees to help the state fight the effects of climate change under a bill being considered in the Legislature.

The measure, which was advanced Thursday in a state Senate committee, aims to create a Climate Superfund similar to the pot of money assembled by the federal government to clean up toxic waste by charging petroleum and chemical companies an extra tax to fund ongoing cleanups.

It’s a tactic being used or considered in numerous other states, including Vermont, which recently enacted such a law. New York, Maryland, Massachusetts and California …