By Steven Allen Adams
For The Inter-Mountain
Charleston – The first multi-state lawsuit led by West Virginia during Attorney General J.B. McCuskey’s first month in office last year resulted in a victory Monday.
In a 63-page memorandum decision and order, a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York judge granted a summary judgment in favor of a coalition of fossil fuel companies and 22 states led by West Virginia, ruling that New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act was unenforceable and preempted by federal law.
“This is a major victory in the fight against liberal states, trying to balance their budgets on the backs of our hard-working men and women in the coal, oil and gas industries,” McCuskey said in a statement Monday evening.
At the end of 2024, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation creating the Climate Change Superfund Act, requiring fossil fuel companies to pay into the fund based on their share of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Climate Change Superfund Act requires companies engaged in producing or refining fossil fuels over an 18-year period between 2000 and 2018 and determined to be responsible for more than 1 billion tons of carbon emissions during that time to pay into a fund if state officials determined the companies have some connection to New York.
The law targets the extraction and production of oil, natural gas and coal. It does not put limits on the geographic scope of the emissions, meaning that New York officials could levy financial penalties on industries not based in the state but whose climate impact is determined to affect New York residents.
The act attempted to establish a $75 billion cost recovery program by imposing strict liability on fossil fuel companies for global greenhouse gas emissions between 2000 and 2024. But Chief U.S. District Judge Brenda K. Sannes ruled that the act oversteps existing federal regulations.
“The Climate Act is an unusual and sweeping statute, designed to address the effects of climate change,” Sannes wrote. “The Court finds that the Climate Act is ‘simply beyond the limits of state law.’
“… It is precisely because the Climate Act operates within an area of law ‘in which the federal interest is so dominant’ that it cannot be enforced,” she continued.
McCuskey announced in February 2025 that West Virginia would lead a 22-state coalition to file a lawsuit against New York state officials in federal court to challenge the Climate Change Superfund Act, making it the first lawsuit filed by McCuskey on behalf of the state after taking office one month earlier. The multi-state coalition asked the court to issue an injunction blocking enforcement of the new law and declare it preempted by federal laws. Arguments in the case were heard in late July.
“We were the first to challenge this law because we saw it for what it was – a money grab by the elites in New York, who want to punish West Virginians for doing the jobs that enable them to heat their homes and build their cities,” McCuskey said. “West Virginians can’t afford more liberal policies that jack up electricity and transportation costs. Thankfully, New York politicians can’t put their hands in West Virginia families’ pocketbooks now.”
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