Drummond applauds judge striking down New York climate superfund law targeting fossil fuels

Drummond applauds judge striking down New York climate superfund law targeting fossil fuel

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is praising a federal judge's decision to strike down the New York Climate Change Superfund Act on Tuesday.

The Climate Change Superfund Act would have penalized fossil fuel companies by requiring them to pay emission fees.

Drummond said his office was a part of a coalition of attorneys general along with the Trump administration and attorneys representing the coal, oil and natural gas industries that challenged the law.

“Climate Superfund laws threaten America’s energy independence by punishing energy producers for decades of prior energy production,” Drummond said. “Energy producers have followed the law and should not be hit with crippling, erroneous fines.”

The court ruled that the Climate Change Superfund Act was "beyond the limits of state law," saying that because the Clean Air Act, a federal law providing rules for regulating interstate pollution, already exists, New York's law can not be enforced.

“It is precisely because the Climate Act operates within an area of law ‘in which the federal interest is so dominant’ that it cannot be enforced," the court said.

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