Governor Hochul and state lawmakers continued to haggle over a state budget, now two weeks overdue, and ended up approving a fourth budget extender last week. Albany’s sleepwalking approach to budget-making stood in stark contrast to the flurry of action from the Trump Administration.
By the end of last week, President Trump had signed 116 executive orders, a record for a new president. Many were no more than press releases seemingly designed to impact the media cycle. One that puts a bullseye on New York was issued last week.
In a sweeping broadside statement, the President ordered the U.S. Attorney to “stop the enforcement of State laws” on climate change that the administration says are unconstitutional, unenforceable or preempted by federal laws.
It directs the U.S. Attorney General to target state laws on carbon taxes and fees, as well as state laws mentioning terms like “environmental justice” and “greenhouse gas emissions.” The order directs the AG to “expeditiously take all appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State laws and continuation of civil actions … that the Attorney General determines to be illegal.”
Within 60 days, the order says, the Attorney General will report on the actions taken against state climate laws and recommend other actions from the president or Congress.
The executive order clearly goes after state programs designed to combat climate change and it was merely one of the Administration’s efforts to undermine science-based policies. The Administration cut funding and staff for Flagship Climate Report, which examines the growing climate disaster and its report is required by Congress. The Administration also announced a plan for deep cuts to the E.P.A.’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which requires disclosures by large companies that emit air pollution.
All of these feverish actions ignore science. Let’s start with the obvious: The planet is heating up and 2024 was the world’s hottest year in recorded history. The world’s climate scientists have agreed that “Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming” and that “limiting human-caused global warming requires net zero CO2 emissions.”
The state policies targeted by the Administration are designed to follow the best science on mitigating a worsening human-induced catastrophe. As we all know, the President thinks otherwise. He’s long dismissed climate change as a hoax.
But, despite his belief, science tells us that global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase and with that the heating up of the planet.
Legal experts have dismissed the Administration’s executive order as unconstitutional. Governor Hochul agreed and joined her co-leader of the U.S. Climate Alliance in a joint statement saying, “The federal government cannot unilaterally strip states’ independent constitutional authority” and that “We are a nation of states — and laws — and we will not be deterred.”
Among the many targets of the Trump Administration’s executive order is that it attempts to torpedo New York’s landmark Climate Change Superfund Act. The Act was approved to mitigate the costs to state taxpayers resulting from the damage caused by the ongoing climate catastrophe.
New York’s recently enacted Climate Superfund is crafted to ensure that state and local taxpayers are not on the financial hook for 100% of the damages caused by severe storms, rising sea levels, and hotter temperatures. Currently, New Yorkers are paying billions in climate-related damages. There is zero doubt that those costs will continue to rise for the foreseeable future.
The costs will be staggering, yet they are costs that must be paid. The Climate Superfund requires the largest oil companies – those most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions – to pay New York $3 billion annually for each of the next 25 years to offset these costs. And it does so in a way that ensures that the companies cannot pass these costs on to the public.
If the Trump Administration’s executive order is successful, that annual $3 billion assessment will be borne by state and local taxpayers – either through increases in taxes or draconian cuts to government-provided services. Since these climate costs have to be paid, the question is should the public pay all of the costs? New York’s law says polluters should pay their fair share.
Given the narrow House majority in the U.S. Congress, the seven New York Republican Representatives can play a key role in deciding the fate of the state’s efforts to follow climate science and protect taxpayers. They can urge the president to lay off New York’s climate policies, including the Climate Superfund. Whether they choose to do so, only time will tell.