A federal judge blocked New York’s $75 billion climate superfund law Monday, ruling the state cannot force energy companies to pay for global greenhouse gas emissions.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brenda Sannes — an appointee of former President Barack Obama — sided with a coalition of Republican-led states and energy groups challenging New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act, finding that it is preempted by federal law and granting the challengers’ motions for summary judgment. The ruling comes as the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments in October for Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, a landmark climate case.
“In seeking damages ‘for the cumulative impact’ of conduct that has occurred ‘simultaneously across just about every jurisdiction on the planet[,]’ the Climate Act conflicts with ‘the overriding . . . need for a uniform rule of decision’ on matters influencing national energy and environmental policy, and . . . ‘basic interests of federalism.’” Sannes’ memorandum reads.
The climate superfund law should survive regardless of which legal standard the court applied, New York argued. But Sannes disagreed, finding that the law was not entitled to the usual benefit of the doubt courts sometimes give state laws when deciding whether they are overridden by federal law.
“This is because these disputes ‘often implicate two federal interests that are incompatible with the application of state law: (i) the ‘overriding need for a uniform rule of decision’ on matters influencing national energy and environmental policy, and (ii) ‘basic interests of federalism,’” the Obama-appointed judge wrote in the memorandum.
That legal principle, known as the “presumption against preemption,” generally requires courts to hesitate before concluding that Congress intended federal law to displace a state’s authority. Sannes found that presumption did not protect New York’s law and ultimately concluded that the Clean Air Act preempts the state’s attempt to impose liability for greenhouse gas emissions originating outside its borders.
The Climate Change Superfund Act requires major fossil fuel companies to collectively pay $75 billion over 25 years based on their alleged share of greenhouse gas emissions between 2000 and 2024. New York intended to use the money for infrastructure projects designed to address costs attributed to “climate change.”
The Supreme Court’s Suncor case is centered on whether states and local governments can use state law to hold fossil fuel companies liable for alleged harms tied to global greenhouse gas emissions.