Wyoming Joins Climate Lawsuit Against New York

Wyoming has joined twenty-one other states in a lawsuit against New York over a new law that would force energy producers to pay $75 billion into a fund to cover "climate change damage."

The states contend that the New York state law is unconstitutional.

West Virginia's Attorney General JB McCuskey led the coalition of states against New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act.

The law requires major fossil fuel companies to pay into the fund over the next quarter-century based on their past gas emissions.

How New York would enforce and collect that money is unclear.

“This lawsuit is to ensure that these misguided policies, being forced from one state onto the entire nation, will not lead America into the doldrums of an energy crisis, allowing China, India and Russia to overtake our energy independence,” McCuskey said in a release.

 

“This law is unconstitutional, and I am proud to lead this coalition of attorneys general and brave private energy companies and industry groups in our fight to protect against this overreach,” McCuskey added.

 

“If we allow New York to get away with this, it will only be a matter of time before other states follow suit – wrecking our nation’s power grid.”

If New York could actually collect the money it would not go toward anything "climate-related."

The lawsuit 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.” (AP News)

States involved in the lawsuit are West Virginia, the states joining the lawsuit are 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.