A federal judge has dismissed a key argument behind a set of lawsuits against New York’s congestion pricing plan, renewing hope among supporters of the tolling program after Gov. Kathy Hochul decided to indefinitely pause its implementation earlier this month.
Plaintiffs had claimed that federal transportation officials allowed the congestion pricing program to move forward without a comprehensive environmental review or adequate mitigation of its potential adverse effects, especially in poor and minority communities where many residents have asthma and other health problems aggravated by air pollution.
But in a 113-page ruling issued Thursday, Judge Lewis J. Liman decided that the review process — which spanned four years and yielded an administrative record of more than 45,000 pages — was thorough enough. Federal transportation officials gave “careful consideration” to congestion pricing based on a “painstaking examination” of its environmental impacts, according to the ruling.
Though the judge’s decision represents a significant, if partial, legal victory for supporters of the tolling program, congestion pricing remains in limbo. With only weeks to go until the plan’s start date, Ms. Hochul halted its rollout, saying she feared the tolls could keep commuters and visitors from returning to the city and harm its post-pandemic recovery.
The office of the governor did not immediately return an after-hours request for comment.
The plaintiffs in three lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Lower Manhattan included two separate groups of New York City residents as well as Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, and Vito J. Fossella, the Staten Island borough president.
In statements, Mr. Fossella and the teachers’ union noted that Judge Liman had not dismissed all of the group’s claims and said they would continue their fight in court.
Jack Lester, a lawyer representing one group of residents, New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax, said the judge had not ruled on their argument that a study of the socioeconomic effects of congestion pricing on the city’s small businesses was required under state administrative law.
Mr. Lester said that his group’s litigation — like the congestion pricing program — was on pause and that the group would refile its lawsuit arguing the socioeconomic issue if the tolling program was reinstated. “That issue is still open and alive,” he said.
A lawyer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which would oversee congestion pricing, praised Judge Liman’s decision and suggested that the M.T.A. was prepared to carry out the program.
“We stand ready to relieve congestion and improve transit service for millions of riders,” Paige Graves, the M.T.A.’s general counsel, wrote in a prepared statement.
Transit advocates urged Ms. Hochul to move forward with congestion pricing as planned. The tolling program, which had been scheduled to begin on June 30, was meant to ease some of the worst traffic in the nation, improve the city’s air quality, increase mass transit ridership and raise money for improvements to the transit network.
Most passenger cars would have paid $15 a day to enter Manhattan at 60th Street or below during peak traffic hours. Transit leaders aimed to collect about $1 billion annually, which would have been used to secure $15 billion through bond financing. Ms. Hochul has said that new funding sources will be found for the M.T.A., but she has not offered specifics.
“Now that a federal court has upheld the M.T.A.’s exhaustive environmental review, our governor should feel comfortable with moving forward and delivering the program’s benefits,” said Betsy Plum, the executive director for the Riders Alliance, a grass-roots organization of transit users.
The judge’s ruling on Thursday was the first court decision on the congestion pricing program. A total of eight lawsuits have been brought against it in federal courts in New York and New Jersey, including one by New Jersey officials that has been widely seen as the strongest legal challenge. A decision has not yet been issued in that case.
