New York ZEC Challenges Move Forward At The State Level

On January 22, 2018, a New York state trial court largely rejected motions to dismiss various challenges to the state's zero emission credit ("ZEC") program established in 2016 by the New York Public Service Commission ("NYPSC").  The ZEC program, which is also being challenged in federal court, provides subsidies to financially struggling in-state nuclear energy generators.  Although the court allowed five of the six claims against the program to proceed to trial, the court dismissed 56 of the 61 petitioners for failing to timely raise their challenges.

In August 2016, the NYPSC issued an order adopting a Clean Energy Standard encompassing various sustainable energy policies, including a ZEC program—which was the first such policy explicitly designed to assist financially "at-risk" nuclear energy generators.  Through the NYPSC's ZEC program, a nuclear generator is eligible to sell ZECs for extra revenue based on certain "public necessity" factors, including: that