Location: New York Statewide | Status: Active
Summary: Save the Sound has filed an amicus brief (or “friend of the court” brief) in a lawsuit brought by environmental and environmental justice groups against the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC or “the Department”) for its failure to issue regulations that ensure emissions reductions mandated in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA or “the Act”) will be met. Our brief supports the Plaintiff-Petitioners arguments by further contextualizing and analyzing where the Department has fallen short in setting and keeping New York on track for achieving the required emissions reduction thresholds and prioritizing benefits to historically marginalized and disproportionately environmentally burdened communities.
New York passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA or “the Act”) in 2019. Broadly considered one of the most, if not the most, ambitious pieces of climate legislation in the country, the CLCPA requires DEC to limit greenhouse gas emissions to 60% of 1990 emissions by 2030 and 15% of 1990 emissions by 2050. In service of this mandate, the CLCPA also established a New York State Climate Action Council to prepare a scoping plan outlining recommendations for achieving the emissions limits and required the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC” or “the Department”) to “[n]o later than four years after the effective date” of the CLCPA (which was January 1, 2024) “promulgate rules and regulations to ensure compliance with the statewide emissions reduction limits,” among other mandates.
The scoping plan recommends that New York adopt an economywide “cap-and-invest” program. While the scoping plan also includes numerous other recommendations, it emphasizes the cap-and-invest program for its ability to “meet[] the need for assured emission reductions and allow[] for investments in technologies that help achieve emissions reductions and reduce the overall cost of this program.” A cap-and-invest plan was developed but, to date, DEC still has yet to release cap-and-invest regulations.
In March 2025, Citizen Action of New York, People United for Sustainable Housing Buffalo, Sierra Club, and WE ACT for Environmental Justice sued the Department for its failure to issue regulations that ensure 2030 emissions reduction mandates will be met as required by the CLCPA by January 1, 2024. They further assert that this failure also violates New York’s Green Amendment because it “prolongs New Yorkers’ exposure to air pollution that would decrease if DEC had complied with the law and the regulations were in place,” thus infringing on New Yorkers’ fundamental right to clean air.
Save the Sound and partners Riverkeeper and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) filed an amicus brief in support of the Plaintiffs. Our brief principally explained (1) how existing rules and regulations fail to ensure compliance with the CLCPA’s emissions reduction limits; (2) how the Department had failed to prioritize measures to maximize net reductions of pollutants in state-designated disadvantaged communities as also required by the CLCPA; and (3) why the urgent need to avoid the catastrophic consequences of climate change and the benefits of promulgating the required regulations warranted the relief requested by the Plaintiffs.
Oral argument was held in July 2025. On October 24, 2025 the Albany Supreme Court ruled for the Plaintiffs and ordered DEC to issue rules and regulations to comply with the CLCPA’s emissions reduction mandates by February 6, 2026. DEC appealed the decision.
Next Step: We are continuing to follow this case as DEC’s appeal proceeds.
Action Opportunities:
Last Updated: January 2, 2026