I remember watching Gov. Kathy Hochul sign the Climate Change Superfund Act into law in January last year. This was the moment that gave New Yorkers a chance to hold Big Oil accountable for their disregard for the environment and the health of the state’s residents. The Climate Change Superfund Act, passed by the state legislature in 2023 and signed by Gov. Hochul in 2024, allows New York to charge fossil fuel companies $3 billion each year over 25 years for the environmental damage they’ve caused. It was a bold and necessary step, particularly for a state already facing rising sea levels, record temperatures and devastating storms. Now, in a sweeping executive order signed last Tuesday, President Donald Trump is trying to destroy the act.
Trump issued an executive order directing the Department of Justice to dismantle state climate policies that burden fossil fuel companies. The Climate Change Superfund Act is one of the many laws specifically targeted by the order, which seeks to strip states of their right to regulate environmental harm and transfer power back to the fossil fuel industry. Trump framed his reasoning for this order as an attempt to block all “burdensome and ideologically motivated ‘climate change’ or energy policies that threaten American energy dominance and our economic and national security.” However, this is a dangerous federal overreach that destroys climate progress and threatens state power.
The order even goes so far as to label state laws on carbon pricing, environmental justice, and environmental, social and governance investments as ideological, despite overwhelming scientific consensus that emissions must be urgently cut. According to NASA, 2023 was the hottest year in recorded history, and the UN warns we’re on track to overshoot 1.5°C of warming within a decade. States like New York and Vermont have already implemented their climate superfund laws, while California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Connecticut are considering passing similar legislation. These motives are not ideological — they are a response to a real ongoing crisis.
Notably, Trump’s executive order doesn’t just threaten New York’s policies to reduce emissions, but also promotes the production and burning of oil, gas and coal. Unsurprisingly, the American Petroleum Institute, a powerful fossil fuel lobbying group, wasted no time celebrating the order.
“We welcome President Trump’s action to hold states like New York and California accountable for pursuing unconstitutional efforts that illegally penalize U.S. oil and natural gas producers for delivering the energy American consumers rely on every day,” Ryan Meyers, the group’s senior vice president, said.
Trump’s hostility toward climate and transportation policy is evidenced in his reaction to other climate policies, such as New York City’s congestion pricing program, which has been proven to reduce vehicle traffic, increase foot traffic and raise funding for long-overdue transit repairs. Less than 24 hours before a Trump-imposed deadline to shut down congestion pricing, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy extended the deadline by 30 days while simultaneously threatening Gov. Hochul with federal retaliation if she doesn’t comply. Although the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which plans to collect $15 billion through the program, has already sued the federal government, Trump officials are still threatening to withhold federal funding for unrelated infrastructure projects, such as the expansion of Pennsylvania Station. This is an act of sabotage coming from the federal government, and it cannot be tolerated.
For years, New Yorkers have been left paying for a crisis they didn’t create. In 2023 alone, taxpayers were burdened with $2.2 billion in climate-related damages, taxes that are used to fund climate-related repairs and projects that are required due to Big Oil’s pollution and exacerbation of the climate crisis. By 2050, it is estimated that the effects of climate change will cost more than half a trillion dollars statewide, equal to over $65,000 per household. Meanwhile, fossil fuel companies knowingly contribute to this destruction and continue to rake in record profits. As Eric Weltman of Food and Water Watch put it, “Big Oil is making a killing off climate disaster,” yet until now, none of these companies’ profits were used to repair the damage. Fossil fuel companies are trying to frame accountability as an attack, when in reality, states like New York are simply asking them to pay their fair share for the damage they’ve caused to the environment.
At a time when climate change is growing more prevalent, more destructive and more expensive, the last thing the federal government should do is block effective local solutions and protect corporate polluters. New York’s superfund act and congestion pricing, along with other states’ climate laws, must be defended to ensure the long-term health of human beings and the world as a whole. Gov. Hochul and state lawmakers need to fight for the millions of residents of New York and for future generations that will be affected by these decisions.
WSN’s Opinion section strives to publish ideas worth discussing. The views presented in the Opinion section are solely the views of the writer.
Contact Steven Wang at [email protected].
