What happens to the congestion pricing lawsuits?

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- During her announcement on Wednesday regarding the pause to congestion pricing, Governor Kathy Hochul said the state had planned for a delay in congestion pricing for some time due to the eight lawsuits filed against the transportation authority regarding its tolling program.

"Given the lawsuits and many other attacks on this process, we've already had to prepare for the possibility that congestion pricing could be delayed," she said. "We have set aside funding to backstop the MTA capital plan and are currently exploring other funding sources."

Just before the governor's announcement, Eyewitness News learned the federal government had not yet signed off on the MTA's congestion pricing plan, which would have been necessary for the program to go into effect later this month.

In addition, the MTA had not reached a written agreement with the New York City and New York State Departments of Transportation, which was also required.

It's unclear how the Governor's delay of congestion pricing will affect the lawsuits, but, as of now, it appears they are proceeding with a decision expected any day in two of them.

One of them is the case https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24716408-nj-v-us-dept-of-transpo?responsive=1&title=1 brought by the State of New Jersey.

A judge could decide whether the MTA and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) need to do a more thorough analysis of the pollution that could be caused, primarily in Hudson and Bergen counties, by increased traffic as drivers seek to avoid the tolls to get into Manhattan below 60th Street.

The FHWA acknowledged that some communities in New Jersey - and Long Island - would experience increased vehicle traffic, but said not enough to cause adverse changes in air pollution.

"This environmental review was defective on its face," Randy Mastro, the attorney for New Jersey, told Eyewitness News investigative reporter Kristin Thorne. "The FHWA and the MTA have to go back to the drawing board and do it right."

The other imminent decision is in a class action lawsuit https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24716410-nyers-against-cp-tax-lawsuit?responsive=1&title=1 brought by New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax.

In it, a group of New York City residents and business owners argued that not only did the MTA and the FHWA not do a thorough environmental analysis of the potential impacts of congestion pricing, but they also did not do an analysis of the financial impact of the tolling program on the 600 small businesses within the Central Business District (CBD) - the area below 60th.

The lawsuit claims small businesses will experience increased delivery costs, problems hiring and retaining workers and lost customers.

"This is going to be a punch in the gut to them because they depend on bringing people in - they depend on tourism," Kathryn Freed, a Lower East Side resident who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said. "If tourists have to pay $15 to get there, they're not going to do it."

The MTA said in its congestion pricing report that the tolling program would not hurt tourism because tourists who drive are likely to have higher incomes and are unlikely to be hesitant about paying the toll. The agency also pointed to congestion pricing programs in other countries and said those cities have not experienced a decline in tourism.

As for small businesses, the MTA acknowledged in that same report that grocery stores, restaurants and small market convenience stores in the Central Business District would have been most likely to take a financial hit from congestion pricing because of increased delivery costs, but they said the costs would be minimal because they would be shared across the businesses with the trucks making multiple deliveries once they are inside the CBD.

The MTA's final congestion pricing plan - the one the agency submitted to the FHWA - is not available to the public.

Jack Lester, the lead attorney for the New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax lawsuit, said whether the lawsuit proceeds will depend upon the MTA.

"If the position of the MTA is, 'well, we're only putting this on the back-burner temporarily,' then obviously the lawsuits would have to go forward because they could resurrect congestion pricing at any moment," he said. "If their position, however, is that this is now a dead letter and we're looking at alternatives then that may, in fact, moot the lawsuits."

Staten Island https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24716411-staten-island-congestion-pricing-lawsuit?responsive=1&title=1, Rockland County https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24716406-de-9-rockland-amended-complaint?responsive=1&title=1, the Town of Hempstead https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24716413-town-of-hempstead-complaint?responsive=1&title=1, the Trucking Association of New York https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24716409-ny-trucking-association-lawsuit?responsive=1&title=1 and Manhattan resident Elizabeth Chan https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24738298-nyc-chan-lawsuit?responsive=1&title=1 have also filed lawsuits against the MTA and the FHWA for the congestion pricing program.

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