Plaintiffs whose lawsuit is at center of climate law debate push back on Hochul's claims
Environmental advocates who brought a lawsuit now caught amid an effort by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration to roll back the very law they were trying to protect are firing back.
They say the governor and her team have been using the lawsuit to gain leverage in an eventual budget fight with the state Legislature to make changes to the state’s 2019 climate law, mischaracterizing it in the process.
“Gov. Hochul is using this lawsuit as an excuse to evade her responsibility,” said Liz Moran, New York policy advocate for Earthjustice, insisting that Hochul is coming up with the wrong answers in her quest to drive down utility costs.
When the state failed to issue regulations for its cap-and-invest program by a 2024 deadline, environmentalists filed a lawsuit to force its hand in releasing guidelines for a key pillar of the law aimed at slashing emissions. The program would generate revenue for climate-related initiatives through a cap on greenhouse gas emissions.
In October, a judge sided with the advocates, ruling that the state was not in compliance with the law and setting a February deadline. For weeks, Hochul has pointed to that ruling and the next steps in the case as a key reason for her intensifying push to create a “longer runway,” adjusting the timeline currently required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 as part of state budget negotiations.
To drive the point home, the administration circulated a memo warning that if the state is forced into compliance by issuing those regulations, utility costs will skyrocket, with some households paying $4,000 more per year.
“We have a judge’s order — a judge is telling us we have to comply with this even though we’re not ready for it. If we do that, I can tell you, as sure as I’m standing here, our costs will go up dramatically,” she said Monday in Buffalo.
Counsel for the groups held a briefing Tuesday, slamming the governor for misrepresenting the lawsuit in her public statements and dismissing the data the Hochul administration has cited to support impending utility cost increases. That data stems from a now-infamous memo from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, or NYSERDA.
They insist the memo uses an inexplicably flawed and “deliberately extreme” version of cap-and-invest, which includes no consumer protections. They also argue that a cap-and-invest model is not required by the climate law, but is an approach devised by the Hochul administration to meet the emissions reduction goals.
“The lawsuit does not force the state to implement any specific policy, and certainly not what is in this NYSERDA memo,” said Rachel Spector, deputy managing attorney for Earthjustice.
The governor has said an April deadline for arguments in the case means the Legislature must agree to changes as part of the state budget, which is due April 1 to avoid the increased costs on ratepayers laid out in the memo.
Caroline Chen, director of environmental justice for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, told reporters that a final decision could take months and even if the state loses, the ruling will likely provide a runway to a workable outcome rather than the doomsday scenario the governor has been warning of.
“The court could make its finding and set a timeline for the state to comply with the proper requirements to issue regulations, or it could send the case back to a lower court to set that timeline — either scenario would likely give the state significant time to do the right thing,” she said. “Nothing in this lawsuit or from this lawsuit explains the direction being taken by the state to threaten or try to force changes to our climate law through the budget process, which we all know is secretive.”
A spokesperson for the governor pointed to her broader concerns about the state being forced to meet the law’s standards. She has also cited the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of support for environmentally friendly policy from the Trump Administration and costs related to the Iran War as further reasons for making a change.
“The governor has been clear that New Yorkers cannot shoulder the burden of increased costs at this time,” the spokesperson said. “Governor Hochul is committed to safeguarding the environment while keeping the lights on and costs down for New Yorkers.”