{"id":335249,"date":"2026-09-01T21:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T21:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/335249\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T21:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T21:12:09","slug":"federal-judge-strikes-down-ny-law-penalizing-fossil-fuel-companies-for-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/335249\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge strikes down NY law penalizing fossil fuel companies for climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 A federal judge has struck down a New York law designed to penalize fossil fuel companies for climate change.<\/p>\n

Chief U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes for the Northern District of New York, an Obama appointee, ruled that the state\u2019s Climate Change Superfund Act is preempted by federal statutes, The Hill reported<\/a>.<\/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 in her ruling.<\/p>\n

The judge said that the statute is \u201cbeyond the limits of state law,\u201d adding, \u201cit is precisely because the Climate Act operates within an area of law \u2018in which the federal interest is so dominant\u2019 that it cannot be enforced.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed the Climate Change Superfund Act in 2024, which sought to punish companies for emissions<\/a> by requiring them to pay a total of $3 billion annually for 25 years.<\/p>\n

The law is modeled after federal Superfund laws, which require companies to pay for pollution<\/a> they cause.<\/p>\n

Fossil fuel trade associations and Republican-led states challenged the New York law in court, arguing that it was an attempt to reshape the U.S.\u2019s energy industry.<\/p>\n

New York argued that its law seeks to hold companies accountable for harm against the state as a result of climate change\u2019s impacts on rising temperatures and extreme weather.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration sued New York to try to block the law, as well as Vermont, which has a similar statute.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaxpayers shouldn\u2019t have to foot the bill for damages caused by polluters,\u201d Hochul’s senior communications adviser on energy and environment, Ken Lovett, told The Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are reviewing the decision to determine possible next steps,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department’s Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson said in a statement following the ruling, \u201cNew York\u2019s law would have expropriated $75 billion from energy companies around the world during an energy emergency and in direct defiance of American foreign policy and federal law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a major victory in the fight against liberal states, trying to balance their budgets on the backs of our hard-working men and women in the coal, oil and gas industries,\u201d West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey (R) said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWest Virginians can\u2019t afford more liberal policies that jack up electricity and transportation costs. Thankfully, New York politicians can\u2019t put their hands in West Virginia families\u2019 pocketbooks now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 A federal judge has struck down a New York law designed to penalize fossil fuel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":["post-335249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}