A New York Supreme Court allowed a plaintiff to proceed with a claim against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the State of New York under the year-old Green Amendment to the New York Constitution, which provides that “[e]ach person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.” The group alleged that DEC and the State violated their constitutionally protected rights by authorizing and permitting activities at a landfill that result in odors and fugitive emissions, including greenhouse gas emissions, and by failing to adequately use the State’s enforcement powers to control odors and fugitive emissions. The court dismissed the Green Amendment claim against the landfill’s operator, concluding that the Green Amendment did not authorize claims against private entities. The court also dismissed the Green Amendment claim against New York City, whose waste allegedly represents 90% of the waste disposed at the landfill. The court found that the City was “merely a customer” of the landfill whose garbage would be replaced by the garbage of another customer. The court also found that the City had no duty under the Green Amendment to police the landfill’s compliance with permits or to abate operational problems.

Lawsuit alleging that the operation of a landfill violated the rights of a local environmental group's members to clean air and a healthy environment under the New York Constitution’s Environmental Rights Amendment.

Fresh Air for the Eastside, Inc. v. New York

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New York Court Allowed Green Amendment Claim to Proceed Against State and DEC Concerning Landfill

Filed

United States of America

New York

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New York Court Allowed Green Amendment Claim to Proceed Against State and DEC Concerning Landfill

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance