The New York Appellate Division reversed the dismissal of a proceeding challenging the New York State Public Service Commission’s (PSC’s) September 2022 declaratory ruling that a cryptocurrency company’s acquisition of a limited liability company that owned a natural gas-fired cogeneration facility in Niagara County did not require further PSC review. A trial court dismissed the proceeding as unripe because the PSC had not yet ruled on the petitioners’ application for rehearing. The appellate court found that the State Administrative Procedure Act foreclosed a rehearing on the September 2022 declaratory ruling and that the ruling was therefore ripe for review. The appellate court also rejected the cryptocurrency respondents’ contention that the appeal was moot because the transaction was complete and because it would be costly to undo construction and improvements to the facility undertaken since September 2022. The appellate court found that the petitioners sought relief that would be available even if unwinding the transaction was not feasible, namely analysis under Section 7 of New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act that could lead to environmental mitigation requirements. The court also rejected the argument that the petitioners lacked standing, finding that increase in use of the facility would affect the petitioners’ members differently than other members of the public due to the members’ proximity to the facility.

Lawsuit challenging the New York State Public Service Commission's decision to authorize a Canadian cryptocurrency company’s acquisition of ownership interests in a company that owns and operates a natural gas plant in North Tonawanda.

Clean Air Coalition of Western New York, Inc. v. New York State Public Service Commission

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

New York Appellate Court Reinstated Case Challenging PSC Decision on Transfer of Generation Facility to Cryptocurrency Company

Filed

United States of America

New York

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

People who are less able to respond to the effects of climate change due to having limited financial or physical assets

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

New York Appellate Court Reinstated Case Challenging PSC Decision on Transfer of Generation Facility to Cryptocurrency Company

Policy instrument

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance