ruled<\/a> that the New York law attempted to do what New York City had sought to accomplish when the city previously sued oil companies over climate damages. The New York City lawsuit was tossed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and Sannes applied that precedent.<\/p>\nSannes also found that New York\u2019s law would be preempted by the federal Clean Air Act and the Foreign Affairs Doctrine. The issue, she said, is simply \u201cbeyond the limits of state law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\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 Sannes wrote in her opinion.<\/p>\n
The Department of Justice celebrated the ruling.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe court held that federal law preempts New York\u2019s attempt to regulate global environmental concerns, marking a significant step in advancing President Trump\u2019s energy agenda and lowering energy prices for Americans,\u201d Associate U.S. Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement. \u201cWe will continue to fight to uphold the rule of law, unleash American energy, and protect our national security.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hochul administration is now weighing how to proceed.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaxpayers shouldn\u2019t have to foot the bill for damages caused by polluters,\u201d Ken Lovett, a Hochul spokesperson, said in a statement. \u201cWe are reviewing the decision to determine possible next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fate of New York\u2019s law is being watched closely across the Hudson in New Jersey, where state lawmakers have been considering a similar measure that could bring $50 billion to the Garden State for climate resilience work.<\/p>\n
New Jersey\u2019s climate superfund bill made major progress through the spring and summer, clearing key committee votes in both houses of the state Legislature. The bill\u2019s sponsors, and the supporters that have spent years campaigning for it, have been optimistic that it could win final passage later this year.<\/p>\n
The bill\u2019s opponents now hope New York\u2019s law being struck down will cause the New Jersey bill\u2019s supporters to reconsider. State Sen. Mike Testa, a South Jersey Republican, said the decision in New York means New Jersey\u2019s bill should go no further.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a waste of time and resources,\u201d Testa said in a statement. \u201cDemocrats in Trenton should focus on what matters most to New Jersey families: affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n
New Jersey\u2019s largest business lobby has vehemently opposed the bill as unfair to fossil fuel companies, and has warned that any costs levied against them are likely to be passed on to customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge the supporters of this legislation in New Jersey to recognize that this bill is unfair, punitive to consumers, damaging to New Jersey jobs, and now, clearly unconstitutional,\u201d Ray Cantor, the deputy chief government affairs officer for the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
But the bill\u2019s sponsors and its supporters say they remain confident that they\u2019ll still get the measure over the finish line. And they believe it will stand up in court, especially because New Jersey is part of the federal Third Circuit so the state is not bound by the precedent that was used to block New York\u2019s law.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see it having little relevance on our act as we’re in a whole different circuit,\u201d said state Sen. John McKeon, a Democrat representing the Essex County suburbs and a primary sponsor of the bill.<\/p>\n
McKeon said the New Jersey bill is similar to and modeled on the New York law, but it also takes inspiration from a similar law in Vermont.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried to take the best of all worlds out of the Vermont approach and the New York approach and put something together that was, in our view, even that much more defensible, if not impregnable,\u201d McKeon said.<\/p>\n
Matt Smith, the New Jersey state director for environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch, said he\u2019s confident the New Jersey bill won\u2019t lose supporters because of the New York decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur supporters share our commitment to enacting smart, common-sense legislation that makes polluters responsible for a portion of the costs that are driving the affordability crisis in New Jersey,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
New Jersey state Senate President Nick Scutari did not respond to a request for comment, and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin declined to comment. The two powerful Democrats would decide if the bill gets floor votes in their chambers.<\/p>\n
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill also did not respond to a request for comment. Sherrill has previously said she supports the spirit of the bill, but that her administration was weighing the measures’ likelihood for surviving legal challenges.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note: This story has been updated to reflect Sherrill\u2019s previous statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s landmark law compelling oil companies to pay for state efforts to address climate change has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":["post-335935","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\/335935","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=335935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}