Another federal judge blocks New York's climate 'superfund' law

Wind turbines on the Science Barge in New York. (Salim Virji, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

(The Center Square) — A second federal judge has put the kibosh on New York's climate superfund law, ruling that the plan to charge fossil fuel companies for their alleged role in global warming is unconstitutional.

In the ruling issued Thursday, U.S. District Court judge P. Kevin Castel said the Department of Justice "has standing" to assert its claims that New York’s Climate Act "impinges on its sovereign authority to create laws relating to the emission of greenhouse gases and to enforce those laws against violators and to declare and promote its interests in foreign affairs."

"The court also concludes that the United States has demonstrated that New York’s Climate Act intrudes upon these interests and is therefore preempted," he wrote in the 35-page ruling.

Castel granted the DOJ a summary judgment declaring the climate law unconstitutional and permanently blocking its enforcement.

New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office hasn't yet commented about Thursday's ruling. It's not clear whether she will appeal the decision.

DOJ officials, however, praised Thursday's decision, saying the court fight is part of a broader effort to "stop the enforcement of state laws that unreasonably burden domestic energy development" and reduce energy costs.

In May, New York residents, according to research from the Albany-based Empire Center, paid the third-highest electricity rate in the United Sates, exceeding the national average by 62%. Natural gas prices, likewise, outpaced the rest of the country by 14.7%.

The policy group calculates the retail price using federal data collected on sales revenues and volumes, which are used as “a proxy for end-use electricity consumption.”

In 2024, natural gas powered 47% of the state’s electrical grid, according to the Energy Information Administration, which is twice as much as any other fuel source.

Thursday’s decision is the second by a federal judge striking down New York's superfund law by declaring that the federal Clean Air Act preempts a provision requiring fossil fuel companies to pay up to $75 billion into a state fund.

In September, U.S. District Court Judge Brenda Sannes sided with 22 Republican attorneys general who sued to block New York's law and declared it unenforceable for violating the Constitution.

The DOJ filed its lawsuit against New York and Vermont last year, arguing that state laws requiring oil companies to contribute billions of dollars into funds to pay for damage caused by climate change were unconstitutional.

New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, signed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019, required the state to reduce its excess greenhouse gas emissions and authorized it to seek up to $75 billion in "damages" from fossil fuel companies.

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.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order shortly after taking office in January 2025, 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 in the lawsuits that the state climate change laws "imperil" domestic energy production.

Justin Wilcox, of Upstate United, said Hochul and New York lawmakers were "well aware that the Climate Superfund Act wouldn't stand up to constitutional scrutiny, but passed the bill anyway, and wasted taxpayer money in expensive litigation."

"The AG is being asked to defend the indefensible," he said in a statement. "The state should not appeal these rulings — take the loss and focus on energy and climate policies that will deliver affordable, reliable power, not legally suspect retroactive penalties that will cost New York families and small businesses billions more."