NY Leaders Blast Supreme Court Power Plant Emission Ruling

NEW YORK CITY — Deadly, record-setting heat waves. Raging storms such as Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Ida. Rising sea levels threatening to flood Manhattan. Air pollution that chokes disadvantaged New Yorkers.

The fight against all those threats to New York — and the planet — just got harder after Supreme Court justices Thursday limited how the nation's major anti-air pollution law can be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, warned an angry chorus of city, state and federal leaders.

Soon after a conservative majority ruled 6-3 that the Environmental Protection Agency doesn't have broad authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, Mayor Eric Adams blasted justices for choosing coal and petroleum industries over peoples' health and safety.

“New York City has been a leader in protecting people from the dangers of climate change, but we’ll have to fight even harder because of this horrific Supreme Court decision," he said in a statement.

Other New York leaders issued blistering statements of their own and vowed to continue the fight against climate change.

"Make no mistake: today's decision by the Supreme Court is a major setback in our fight against climate change," Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

"New York is once again in the familiar, but unwelcome, position of stepping up after the Supreme Court strikes a blow to our basic protections."

The Supreme Court decision follows other controversial rulings by the court that overturned Roe v. Wade and struck down a New York law severely limiting concealed carry of firearms.

City and state leaders after those rulings vowed to both continue and expand existing protections, effectively setting up New York to go it alone amid what they deemed national regressive right-wing rollbacks.

And, on climate change, New York officials have already been taking steps on their own.

City Comptroller Brad Lander noted that the city's pension funds are divesting from a fossil fuel owner companies — an initiative started under former mayor Bill de Blasio that commits to net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 and a $50 billion investment in renewable energy by 2035.

"We will continue to review the implications of this decision for our work to confront the climate crisis using all the tools available to us," Lander said.

Still, the Supreme Court's decision could have a wider effect, argued Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who hails from New York.

"The consequences of this decision will ripple across the entire federal government, from the regulation of food and drugs to our nation’s health care system, all of which will put American lives at risk,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.