Trump Takes on New York's Climate Programs
By Marie J. French
TRUMP TARGETS CLIMATE PROGRAMS — POLITICO’s E&E’s Adam Aton and Lesley Clark: President Donald Trump is throwing the weight of the Justice Department against the last bastion of U.S. climate action: states and cities.
In a sweeping executive order signed late Tuesday, Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to “stop the enforcement of State laws” on climate change that the administration says are unconstitutional, unenforceable or preempted by federal laws.
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NEW YORK PERSPECTIVE: Trump’s order specifically mentions New York’s Climate Superfund law, which the industry and Republican attorneys general have already challenged in court. The measure seeks to retroactively charge fossil fuel companies for historical emissions and associated damages linked to climate change.
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The order also calls out California’s cap-and-trade system — and directs the U.S. Attorney General to report on essentially all state laws and policies related to climate and the environment. The priority is to stop state actions that “address ‘climate change’ or involving ‘environmental, social, and governance’ initiatives, ‘environmental justice,’ carbon or ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions, and funds to collect carbon penalties or carbon taxes.” New York’s landmark 2019 climate law has ambitious environmental justice protections and funding mandates alongside targets to slash greenhouse gas emissions. New York is also part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which charges power plants for their carbon emissions and has withstood many legal challenges.
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Hochul earlier this year punted on New York’s own cap-and-trade style program to charge for pollution. The governor’s administration has released draft regulations for reporting emissions, which would provide data to advance the “cap and invest” program. Some environmental groups have already sued Hochul’s Department of Environmental Conservation for not issuing regulations to achieve the goals of the state’s climate law. NY Renews again called for Hochul to release those regulations in response to Trump’s executive order.
“A well-designed cap-and-invest system would reduce energy bills for working- and middle-class households, require corporate polluters to pay their fair share to fund the switch to clean and efficient energy sources, and create thousands of good, family-sustaining jobs across our state,” the group wrote.
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