New York – On Friday, Aug. 15 the environmental organization Food & Water Watch moved to intervene in the effort by the Trump administration to strike down New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act – a precedent-setting law enacted in 2024 that requires fossil fuel companies to help fund infrastructure upgrades and disaster mitigation projects in the state that are necessitated by the deepening climate crisis driven by these companies’ pollution. Among the groups joining Food & Water Watch in the intervention effort are Fridays for Future NYC and Third Act Initiative. These groups played a key advocacy role in the successful passage of the law last year.

The New York Climate Change Superfund Act requires the largest fossil fuel companies with a connection to the state to pay $75 billion over 25 years to fund critical climate adaptation projects, shifting a portion of the costs of the climate crisis from New Yorkers to those who bear the greatest responsibility for climate-harming greenhouse gas pollution. On May 1 the Trump administration brought separate suits against both New York and Vermont alleging that these states’ Climate Superfund statutes are unconstitutional.

“After years of hard work and tireless advocacy, we made this game-changing climate resilience plan a reality in New York. Finally, the burden of fortifying the state against worsening fossil fuel-driven climate chaos will be shared by the corporations most responsible for creating this crisis,” said Eric Weltman, senior New York organizer at Food & Water Watch. “We are determined to help defend this common-sense law, alongside our fellow advocates and state officials committed to this critical fight.”

“The youth of NYC missed school, protested in the streets, and lobbied in Albany for the Climate Change Superfund Act,” said Helen Mancini of Fridays For Future NYC. “Unlike the fossil fuel industry, our generation had no say in the creation of the climate crisis, yet we are bearing the brunt of the impacts. We fought for the Superfund Act because it establishes a more just model of paying for climate disaster in New York that holds polluters accountable, rather than working people. We will continue to stand behind this law and fight for its implementation; our generation depends on it.”

“As elders, the members of Third Act Initiative are acutely conscious of our responsibility to act, while we still can, to make the world a better place for our children and grandchildren,” said Pat Almonrode, Co-facilitator of Third Act NYC. “We worked very hard to secure the passage of the New York Climate Change Superfund Act because it’s a significant step in fulfilling that very responsibility. We’re proud now to stand with our allies to help defend this important law.”

“Members of Third Act Initiative in upstate New York were instrumental in the broad based, two-year campaign to enact the Climate Change Superfund Act”, said Michael Richardson, Co-facilitator of Third Act Upstate New York. “As taxpayers in municipalities and counties throughout upstate New York, we demanded that those fossil fuel companies most responsible for pollution be held accountable for their role in climate change by contributing a fair share to reduce the heavy burden on our local governments for infrastructure repairs from severe storms and to fund climate adaptation and resilience projects.”

The case is United States of America, et al. v. State of New York, et al. Food & Water Watch, Fridays for Future NYC, and Third Act Initiative are represented by the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic. Food & Water Watch is also represented by its own counsel.