New York has seen a recent surge in laws to end the practice of environmental racism and to ameliorate its harms. This surge comes on the heels of an executive order President Biden issued identifying racism as a key driver for environmental injustices and decades-long advocacy from New York environmental-justice groups.

State protections are imperative now because just last month the court dealt a serious blow to the Biden administration’s attempts to slash emissions, specifically impacting marginalized communities. In West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, the court curbed the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate the carbon emissions of existing power plants. In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan observed that the court’s decision “strips” the Environmental Protection Agency of the “power Congress gave it to respond to ‘the most pressing environmental challenge of our time.’”