AUSTIN — Texas has joined 21 states and four energy groups in a lawsuit challenging a New York climate change law, Attorney General Ken Paxton said Tuesday.
The lawsuit, led by West Virginia and filed this month in federal district court in Albany, alleges New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act is unconstitutional and a violation of federal law, including the Clean Air Act and the Constitution’s commerce clauses.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the law in December, creating a climate change cost recovery program that requires large fossil fuel companies to support infrastructure investments by paying into a climate superfund.
The lawsuit frames the law as “an unprecedented effort” to take $75 billion from the nation’s traditional energy producers over the next 25 years to subsidize New York-based projects.
“It imposes retroactive fines on traditional energy producers for their purported past contributions to greenhouse gas emissions … which were lawful operations endorsed by both federal and state regulators,” the lawsuit said. “And rather than focusing on greenhouse-gas emissions released in New York, the Act punishes a small group of energy producers for global greenhouse gases emitted from all sources into the atmosphere from 2000 to 2018.”
The coalition of states and energy groups warn the law could devastate traditional energy producers with a “ruinous liability” that, if replicated in other states, “could force coal, oil, and natural gas producers to shutter altogether.”
More than 83% of U.S. energy production comes from fossil fuels, according to the lawsuit, which credits coal, oil and natural gas production for employing millions of Americans and contributing billions to the economy every year.
The lawsuit asked the court to bar New York from enforcing the act and declare it unlawful.
In a statement, Paxton said he’s proud to join fellow attorneys general in moving to stop the law.
“New York’s law is nothing more than an unconstitutional shakedown of vital American energy industries that form the bedrock of our national economic independence,” Paxton said. “In return for keeping the lights on and fueling our manufacturing, energy producers are being targeted for destruction by the left-wing policies of New York radicals.”
Paul DeMichele, a spokesperson for the New York governor, expressed confidence the state will prevail in court.
“Governor Hochul proudly signed the Climate Superfund Act because she believes corporate polluters should pay for the damage done to our environment — not everyday New Yorkers,” he said. “We look forward to defending this landmark legislation in court and defeating Big Oil once again.”
A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is listed as a defendant with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation interim Commissioner Sean Mahar and New York acting Tax Commissioner Amanda Hiller, did not respond to two emailed requests for comment.
