Citizen Action of New York v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

A New York trial court denied the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC’s) motion requesting that the court extend the deadline the court had set for DEC to promulgate regulations that the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Action mandated be issued by January 1, 2024. The court in October 2025 ordered DEC to come into compliance by February 6, 2026. The court found that DEC’s motion requesting the extension was moot because the court’s order had been stayed by operation of law when DEC filed a notice of appeal. The court also found that DEC did not meet the legal threshold for a motion to renew or reargue. The court said it had declined to take on oversight of the regulatory process and had instead afforded DEC time to seek legislative changes to the deadline. The court found that the “essence” of DEC’s argument in its motion to renew or reargue was “the very same” as its original argument—that it did not want “to be governed by a hard deadline.”

DEC also filed a motion to renew and reargue, arguing that the February 6, 2026 deadline set by the court for promulgation of regulations would be impossible to meet. DEC argued that even if the court adhered to its determination that DEC’s obligation to promulgate the regulations was ministerial, “it should nonetheless not have set a deadline that inherently truncates vital analysis and forecloses the [DEC’s] ability to consider new information and changed circumstances.”

On November 25, 2025, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) filed a notice of its appeal of a trial court’s order and judgment finding that DEC had failed to comply with the New York Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act’s mandate to issue regulations to ensure compliance with the law’s emissions reductions mandates. Service of the notice of appeal stays enforcement of the trial court’s decision.

A New York trial court ordered the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to promulgate regulations implementing the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). The court concluded that the CLCPA mandated that DEC issue regulations by January 1, 2024 to ensure compliance with the law’s emissions reductions mandates and that under “well-established principles” of New York law, DEC did not have discretion not to follow the legislative directive. The court therefore rejected DEC’s contentions that promulgation of regulations was “infeasible” because of the costs that DEC believes achievement of the CLCPA’s emissions targets would impose on consumers. The court directed DEC to promulgate the regulations by February 6, 2026, which the court said would allow the State Legislature an opportunity to amend the CLCPA when its next session commences in January 2026. The court cautioned that, “having afforded [DEC] with the time to both further develop its regulations and address its concerns to the political branches,” the court was “highly unlikely to grant extensions” of the deadline. The State has indicated that it would likely appeal, which would provide an automatic stay of the order.