{"id":1037674,"date":"2026-09-01T22:58:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037674\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T22:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:58:23","slug":"ny-federal-judge-strikes-down-state-law-that-would-have-made-fossil-fuel-companies-pay-75-billion-for-climate-change-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037674\/","title":{"rendered":"NY federal judge strikes down state law that would have made fossil fuel companies pay $75 billion for climate change effects"},"content":{"rendered":"

An upstate federal judge ruled<\/a> that a New York law<\/a> that would have forced major fossil fuel companies to foot the bill for infrastructure upgrades necessary to withstand the impacts of climate change is unconstitutional, saying the state overstepped its authority by passing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The law, called the Climate Change Superfund Act, would have required fossil fuel companies that the state found to be \u201cresponsible\u201d for climate change because they\u2019d significantly contributed to putting climate-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere \u2013 like Chevron and Exxon Mobil \u2013 to pay $75 billion into a climate change adaptation cost recovery program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The money \u2013 which was never handed over \u2013 would have been used to pay for infrastructure upgrades necessary to adapt to climate change impacts, like flooding, across the state. For example, it may have been used for resiliency efforts in parts of New York City most susceptible to flooding, like Red Hook, the Rockaways and Lower Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Chief U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes, a Barack Obama appointee, said in a Monday decision that the Climate Act was unconstitutional because it conflicted with federal environmental law like the Clean Air Act. That\u2019s because the state law essentially acted to regulate interstate greenhouse gas emissions and climate change at large by targeting national and international companies, something which is in the federal government\u2019s interest, not the state\u2019s, to regulate, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Climate Act is an unusual and sweeping statute, designed to address the effects of climate change \u2014 a \u2018uniquely international problem of national concern,\u2019\u201d Sannes wrote. \u201cIn seeking damages \u2018for the cumulative impact\u2019 of conduct that has occurred \u2018simultaneously across just about every jurisdiction on the planet,\u2019 the Climate Act conflicts with \u201c\u2018the overriding . . . need for a uniform rule of decision\u2019 on matters influencing national energy and environmental policy, and \u2018basic interests of federalism.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAny cost recovery demand against a foreign producer would be preempted by the foreign affairs doctrine,\u201d Sannes added. \u201cThus, the Court finds that the Climate Act is simply beyond the limits of state law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision comes in a case brought in the Northern District of New York by a group of 22 Republican-led states and coal and oil organizations who argued the law would unfairly harm them and that New York was acting out of turn.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear whether New York would appeal the decision. Both Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s offices told amNewYork they were reviewing the available options.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Behind the judge\u2019s ruling<\/p>\n

Sannes\u2019 reasoning seemed to turn primarily on a 2018 decision from the Appellate Division, Second Department, which ruled against New York City\u2019s attempt to force five multinational oil companies, such as BP and Exxon Mobil, to pay for the \u201cpast and future costs of climate-proofing its infrastructure\u201d and additional damages. <\/p>\n

Both the federal court the city brought the suit in and the appeals panel dismissed the city\u2019s case on the basis that it was attempting to override federal law and interest in regulating national companies and country-wide environmental issues.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the law condemned Sannes\u2019 ruling. Groups like Citizens Campaign for the Environment, West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT), Catskill Mountainkeeper and Black Farmers United, all of whom filed briefs with the court in support of the Climate Act, pointed to the funds needed for infrastructure upgrades in disadvantaged communities when saying the court missed an opportunity to hold polluters accountable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Act would have provided funds for the infrastructure investments that Harlem and other disadvantaged communities need to respond to threats caused by global warming,\u201d said Peggy Shepard, co-founder of WE ACT. \u201cNumerous studies have shown that there is a disproportionate impact of pollution and climate change on communities of color and low-income communities, and they need resources to become climate resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Environmental groups emphasized that right now, adequate funding isn\u2019t able to be scraped together \u2014 leaving communities vulnerable \u2013 and, when funding is put forward, it\u2019s coming on the taxpayers\u2019 dime. That\u2019s unfair, they said, as the public isn\u2019t responsible for climate change the same way fossil fuel companies are, so they shouldn\u2019t be the ones footing the bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is immensely disappointing and frightening that the Court ruled against the millions of New Yorkers living through climate change and paying for the damage already occurring in our state,\u201d said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment. \u201cThe Climate Change Superfund Act would have required New York\u2019s largest polluters to take responsibility for the damages being inflicted on our communities and environment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunities from Long Island to Buffalo need help adapting to the changing climate,\u201d Esposito added. \u201cThis Act would have provided the resources for us to adapt and protect our homes and families.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An upstate federal judge ruled that a New York law that would have forced major fossil fuel companies…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1037675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,285,746,3228,405,403,5226,5225,415119,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1037674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-climate-change","tag-environment","tag-law","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-northern-district-of-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117198264965869869","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1037674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1037675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1037674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1037674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1037674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}