The Vermont and New York Climate Superfund laws establish a statutory framework for climate liability by requiring companies to pay for the cost of various climate change-related disasters across those states. In early 2025, industry and certain states filed two separate lawsuits against Vermont and New York, challenging their respective Climate Superfund laws. This Comment analyzes four claims raised in the complaints, which present robust constitutional questions, and concludes that the new laws may be struck down due to issues of federal preclusion and preemption. Although the court may well find that no Due Process Clause or Commerce Clause issues are implicated, it need only find one constitutional problem to invalidate the state laws at issue. While these Climate Superfund laws will likely not survive review in the Second Circuit, similar state laws may survive review elsewhere.

Through a novel yet controversial application of the Congressional Review Act (CRA), in June the federal government disapproved the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) waiver for California’s 2022 zero emission vehicle mandate. The state sued to overturn that disapproval, arguing that the federal government abused its authority under the CRA. This Article argues that California is likely to lose the statutory aspects of its litigation due to judicial rulings in 2007, when California’s original 2004 climate rule was upheld. It then argues that the loss will not be crippling because California has other tools at its disposal to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles. The state can issue a revised rule that is not substantially the same as the one disapproved by the U.S. Congress, which likely would require the state to win a subsequent lawsuit against the Trump EPA. A more promising strategy for California is new demand side policies, such as feebates and mileage fees with adjustments for fuel efficiency. The Article explains how the state can adopt targeted tax reforms with only a remote risk of preemption under federal law.