Kathy Hochul finally signed the NY climate scam law requiring “polluters to pay” while Hochul and others continue to use the “pollution” at the end of December 2024. Twenty two states have already sued in early February. And now
A coalition of business and trade groups is suing the Hochul administration over a law that will force oil, natural gas and coal companies to pay $75 million for spewing carbon emissions.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration claimed the law was necessary to combat the companies contributing to climate change for decades — but critics said the extra costs will be passed along to consumers through prices at the pump and heating bills.
“This law is not only illegal and misguided, but it will likely increase the cost of energy, placing an unnecessary burden on New Yorkers and consumers nationwide — especially during a time of already high prices,” Marty Durbin, president of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute and plaintiff in the case, told The Post.
The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court claims Hochul and the state legislature exceeded their authority by approving the New York Climate Change Superfund Act last year, and asked that it be tossed out as unconstitutional.
The plaintiffs also include the New York State Business Council, the American Petroleum Institute and the National Mining Association. (snip)
Federal law prohibits New York from imposing liability on fossil fuel energy producers for harms allegedly caused in the Empire State by greenhouse gases emitted outside the state, the lawsuit said.
Well, it will be interesting to see where this goes. Quite a few other lawsuits along similar lines have been killed off by the judicial system, including New Jersey’s shakedown suit, over the same thing: states do not have the authority to do this.
The taxpayers are the ones who should be suing, because the increased costs will simply be passed down to the individual consumers.
Democrats and Republicans alike retain the hope that taxpayers will not realize that taxes on businesses are simply passed down to their customers, and the end user of any product pays all of the taxes imposed on that product.