Judge Tosses Challenge to Local Law 97

Eric Adams’ administration scored a victory after a judge tossed a lawsuit challenging the city’s landmark decarbonization law.

A judge dismissed the lawsuit against the Department of Buildings on Monday, Crain’s reported. The plaintiffs, a coalition of co-ops and building owners, contested the law based on how onerous it would be for owner-occupied and small rental buildings, as well as the vagueness of the law.

The plaintiffs outlined the exact penalties they could face under the law in their arguments. That may have been their undoing, as the judge argued that they couldn’t possibly not understand the policy. An argument that a different state emissions target preempts Local Law 97 also fell on deaf ears.

A spokesperson for the Buildings Department celebrated the judge’s decision in a statement, while the president of Bay Terrace Cooperative Section I, one of the plaintiffs, said the plaintiffs’ attorneys were planning an appeal.

Under the law, owners of large buildings will be fined $268 per ton of carbon dioxide emitted above their allowance. The purpose of the law is to cut emissions 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050 from 2005 levels.

Earlier in the year, a study commissioned by the Real Estate Board of New York estimated that 3,700 properties could violate the law, incurring as much as $200 million in fines next year and $900 million each year by 2030.

The feared impact on building owners’ bottom line may be overstated. 

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A preliminary review conducted by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection over the summer found only 11 percent of buildings weren’t on track to meet the policy’s standards, well below the city’s expectation for noncompliance.

The city also recently threw a bone to building owners, saying those who fail to meet next year’s cap on carbon emissions could get an additional two years to comply and lower penalties if they make a “good faith effort” to follow the law.

— Holden Walter-Warner