Hours after the Border 2 fire erupted on Otay Mountain in January, ash reached Hilltop High School in Chula Vista.

“That whole school day was like extremely, extremely bad for everyone,” said Maria Echevarria, a junior at Hilltop High. “Everyone had headaches. We saw the ash, kind of like rain and stuff.”

Wildfires, floods and heatwaves are becoming more common as climate change intensifies.

Oil, coal and gas companies that generate greenhouse gas emissions are driving climate change, Echevarria said.

But a could hold industries financially accountable, the 16-year-old student added.

The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act, co-authored by Assemblymember Chris Ward, D-San Diego, would require companies to pay for damages caused by greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, exacerba

See Full Page