PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEDERAL COURT STRIKES DOWN NEW YORK’S CLIMATE “SUPERFUND” ACT AS PREEMPTED BY FEDERAL LAW
Federal ruling blocks New York from imposing billions of dollars in climate-related liability on energy producers
LAKEWOOD, Colo. (August 31, 2026)—Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) secured a major victory for American energy producers and energy-producing states today when a federal court ruled that New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act is preempted by federal law.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs in West Virginia, et al. v. Letitia James, et al., holding that New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act is preempted. The Act, enacted in 2024, sought to impose up to $75 billion in liability on energy producers for greenhouse-gas emissions dating back decades—including emissions associated with conduct occurring outside New York and the United States.
MSLF represents the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia (GO-WV) in the case alongside 22 states and other energy-industry plaintiffs challenging the law.
“New York attempted to make energy producers pay billions of dollars for lawful activities that occurred across the country and around the world,” said Kole Kelley, Director of MSLF’s Center for American Prosperity & Energy. “The court correctly recognized that one state cannot dictate national energy and environmental policy or impose its policy choices beyond its borders. This is an important victory for GO-WV, American energy producers, and the constitutional limits that preserve our country.”
MSLF and others in the case argued that New York was attempting to regulate matters governed by federal law and impose its own climate policy on the rest of the country—undermining the Constitution’s division of authority between the states and federal government and threatening the national energy market.
The court agreed with the plaintiffs’ federal preemption argument. The court separately held that any cost recovery demand against a foreign fossil fuel producer would also be preempted under the foreign affairs doctrine.
The ruling is a critical recognition that individual states cannot unilaterally impose their own regulatory and financial schemes on a national industry when federal law governs the field. New York’s law sought to retroactively punish the energy producers that power America, demanding billions of dollars for conduct that occurred decades ago, outside New York, and while those companies were operating in compliance with the laws and regulations governing them at the time.
The ruling represents an important victory for the principle that states must respect the constitutional limits on their authority—and that one state cannot simply dictate energy policy for the rest of the nation.
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Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) is a nonprofit, public-interest legal firm established in 1977. MSLF is dedicated to individual liberty, limited and ethical government, and the benefits of the free enterprise system. MSLF defends its clients through pro bono litigation and seeks victory for its clients at the highest level possible to establish binding legal precedents to benefit millions of Americans. Through its litigation and public discourse, MSLF educates the American public on the threat unrestrained government presents to our liberties. Learn more at mslegal.org
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