West Virginia v. James

West Virginia and 21 other states, along with several coal, oil, and gas trade associations and a mining company, filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Northern District of New York challenging New York State’s Climate Change Superfund Act. The 2024 law established a $75 billion Climate Change Adaptation Cost Recovery Program to fund adaptation projects in the state. The program is to be funded by companies that engaged in fossil fuel extraction or crude oil refining during a covered period and that are responsible for more than one billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions during that period. The complaint alleged that the law was preempted under the U.S. Constitution because it “invades the equal sovereignty of other States by unconstitutionally imposing liability and penalties on energy companies outside of New York for greenhouse gas emissions produced by lawful activities outside of New York’s borders.” The plaintiffs also alleged that the New York law undermined federalism principles by inserting state law where there are “[u]niquely federal interests.” The complaint also asserted that the law was preempted under the Clean Air Act and violated the dormant Commerce Clause and the foreign Commerce Clause. In addition, plaintiffs claimed that the law was retroactive in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, effected a regulatory taking under the U.S. and New York constitutions, and violated the Due Process Clause of the New York Constitution and the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment.