DOJ urges federal judge to strike down climate change law

By Chris Wade
The Center Square

The Trump administration is asking a federal judge to invalidate a New York law that seeks to punish fossil fuel companies for their alleged role in climate change.

In a motion for summary judgment, filed late Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division asked a U.S. District Court judge to “end New York’s lawless overreach” by “declaring the Superfund Act invalid and unenforceable, and permanently enjoining Defendants from taking any actions to implement or enforce it.”

“New York has declared war on those responsible for supplying our nation with reliable and affordable energy, and it is trampling over federal law in the process,” the filing states.

In May, the DOJ filed lawsuits against New York and Vermont, arguing that state laws requiring oil companies to contribute billions of dollars into funds to pay for damage caused by climate change were unconstitutional.

The legal challenge against New York alleges that the state’s “superfund” law is a “transparent monetary-extraction scheme” designed to fund the state’s infrastructure projects with money from out-of-state businesses.

“The Superfund Act is a brazen attempt to grab power from the federal government and force citizens of other States and nations to foot the bill for its infrastructure wish list,” the DOJ wrote in the 29-page complaint.

In both lawsuits, the Justice Department cited a Jan. 20 executive order signed by President Donald Trump declaring a national energy emergency to speed up permitting of energy projects, roll back environmental protections, and withdraw from an international pact to fight climate change. DOJ lawyers allege that the state climate change laws imperil domestic energy production.

New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, signed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019, requires the state to reduce its excess greenhouse gas emissions and authorizes it to seek up to $75 billion in damages from fossil fuel companies. Regulations for the new law have yet to be issued, which prompted a lawsuit from green groups seeking the state to post them.

New York is also facing a lawsuit filed by 22 Republican attorneys general who argue that the law will do little to blunt the impact of climate change while passing on the costs to the state’s consumers in the form of higher energy bills. The outcome of that case is still pending.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson said New York has “overstepped its authority in trying to impose crippling financial penalties on the world’s largest energy providers” and said the court must act to prevent further damage to the fossil fuel industry.

“Individual states have no authority to regulate nationwide and global greenhouse gas emissions,” he said in a statement. “The courts must put a stop to New York’s brazen disregard of federal law, the Constitution, and binding precedent, not to mention our Nation’s energy needs.”