22 states Sue New York, Claim Environmental Fund is Unconstitutional

Twenty-two states sued New York on Thursday, Feb. 6, contending that a new law forcing a small group of major energy producers to pay $75 billion into a fund to cover climate change damage is unconstitutional, according to the Associated Press. The law requires major fossil fuel companies to pay into the fund over the next quarter-century based on their past gas emissions.

The lawsuit, filed in Albany, lists state Attorney General Letitia James and other officials as defendants. It accuses New York State of trying to force energy producers and consumers in other states “to subsidize certain New York-based ‘infrastructure’ projects, such as a new sewer system in New York City.”

Joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming, the lawsuit called the law “an ugly example of the chaos that can result when states overreach.”