NY sued to speed up climate law

 ALBANY — A coalition of environmental advocacy groups is suing New York over the state’s slower than expected implementation of its landmark climate law, which requires regulations to meet the state’s mandated transition away from fossil fuels to reduce carbon emissions.

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The groups argued in the lawsuit that the state hasn’t taken the necessary steps to meet its upcoming mandates, which require a 40% reduction in emissions by 2030 to begin an ambitious set of targets over the next 25 years.

 

“With only five years until the first deadline, New York’s emissions are rising rather than falling,” their attorneys wrote. “The state must not only reverse this trend but must rapidly decrease emissions in the next few years.”

 

The civil action was filed against the state Department of Environmental Conservation in state court Monday by Citizen Action of New York, the Sierra Club, WE ACT for Environmental Justice and PUSH Buffalo. They’re represented by Earthjustice, another environmental group.

 

The conflict is centered on the state’s proposed “cap-and-invest” program, which would essentially impose a tax on carbon emissions. It’s included in the state’s scoping plan, a roadmap toward its climate mandates developed by the Climate Action Council more than two years ago.

 

The program would place a cap on the amount of carbon emissions allowed in New York. Companies that report heavy emissions from transportation and heating fuels would have to pay the state for permission to create that pollution.

 

The proceeds from the program would then be reinvested into renewable energy projects and infrastructure. They would also be used to help ratepayers offset any rise in utility costs that result because of the program.

 

The deadline for the regulations to implement the program was set by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act as Jan. 1, 2024. 

 

“But DEC has failed to even release draft regulations to meet this requirement, even though it has prepared regulations that are reportedly ready for publication,” the lawsuit said.

 

Gov. Kathy Hochul said in January that the first of three sets of regulations to implement the program would be proposed early this year; that happened last week.

 

Those regulations outline how companies would report their carbon emissions to the state. They can’t be adopted by the state until July at the earliest, when the agency set the deadline for public comment.

 

“We also have to measure pollution before you can solve the problem,” Hochul said in January. “We don’t have the data necessary right now that we thought we would have.”

 

But the lawsuit argues that the other two sets of regulations are also ready to be released for public comment. 

 

“In late 2024, DEC privately told representatives of some (of our) organizations that the draft regulations that had been under discussion for nearly two years were essentially ready and would be released imminently, in January 2025,” the lawsuit said.

 

They want a judge to order the agency to immediately issue those draft regulations and finalize a timeline on which they would be adopted.

 

“These regulations are not just a technicality — they are the primary means of ensuring the state meets its climate mandates,” said Rachel Spector, a senior attorney at Earthjustice. “We don’t have time to wait to act on climate, and that’s why our clients are going to court today.”

 

Opponents of the cap-and-invest program have argued that it will impose new costs on energy companies that will be passed on to consumers. Revenue from the program is intended in part to help combat that result but it’s unclear if those funds will cover the entire cost.

 

A spokesman for the Department of Environmental Conservation said Monday that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

 

Dan Clark

Capitol Bureau

Dan Clark is the author of the Capitol Confidential newsletter and covers New York government and policy for the Times Union. Clark has covered New York government, politics and policy for more than a decade. Before joining the Times Union in 2024, Clark was the managing editor of WMHT’s “New York NOW” and had stints at PolitiFact, the New York Law Journal and Capitol Tonight. You can reach him at Dan.Clark@timesunion.com.

 

New York sued to speed up lagging climate change regulations

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