Ruling finds conflict with Clean Air Act
U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes ruled on Monday that New York’s 2024 climate law conflicts with the federal Clean Air Act.
In her decision, Sannes wrote that the law operated on territory governed by federal law for over a century and sought damages for the cumulative impact of conduct that has occurred nearly everywhere on Earth. The statute, she wrote, conflicts with the need for a uniform national energy and environmental policy and is not authorized by the Clean Air Act, which designates the Environmental Protection Agency as the primary regulator of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
The law, signed by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2024, would have required fossil fuel companies to pay into a $75 billion fund for climate change damages. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit included fossil fuel interests, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 22 Republican state attorneys general and the EPA.