A New York law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul that would impose as much as $75 billion in liabilities on major fossil fuel companies by forcing them to pay into a state «climate super-fund» depending on their emissions would hurt way more than the firms themselves, West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey warned Friday.

«It would be catastrophic, not just for the economies of West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, but the economies of every state,» McCuskey said, as those states are likely to see the most negative effects due to their role in powering New York’s grid.

«If we don’t have access to reliable, inexpensive electricity, and the only way to make that right now is with fossil fuels, every American’s energy bills are going to skyrocket.»

McCuskey warned that it is those same energy companies that provide livable conditions and conveniences for the same New York City dwellers who boosted the policy.

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The skyscrapers dotting the city relied on Pennsylvania steel and West Virginia power to be built in the first place. McCuskey said it was «ironic» to see «people in Manhattan looking down on them – it’s that very coal power that they’re claiming now destroyed their city.»

McCuskey, leading about a score of other states in trying to halt New York’s law, said costs will rise across the board, including for commodities, transportation and other concerns not immediately thought of as being directly linked to fossil fuels or physical infrastructure.

Hochul has rebutted such opposition, claiming increasingly strong meteorological patterns are increasingly burdening New Yorkers with billions of dollars in health and environmental «consequences — due to polluters that have historically harmed our environment.»

«Establishing the Climate Superfund is the latest example of my administration taking action to hold polluters responsible for the damage done to our environment and requiring major investments in infrastructure and other projects critical to protecting our communities and economy,» Hochul said in a statement.

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West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey said it was «ironic» to see «people in Manhattan looking down on them – it’s that very coal power that they’re claiming now destroyed their city.» (iStock)

McCuskey added that a second suit is confronting Vermont’s similar 2024 law as well – though he warned the Green Mountain State’s version does not have a $75 billion cap like the neighboring Empire State.

Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott declined to veto or sign that law, rendering it enacted.

State Rep. Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington, predicted that «Big Oil will fight this in the courts,» but said in a statement at the time that the «stakes are too high and costs too steep for Vermonters to release corporations that caused this mess from their obligation to help clean it up.»

Hearings in the New York suit are expected to begin in July, McCuskey said, and he expected that no matter what happens in Albany’s judiciary, the Supreme Court will likely have to have the final word.

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About a dozen other states, including Illinois, Massachusetts and California, are pursuing similar legislation, McCuskey said, so litigators may soon have their hands full.

«The New York case is so incredibly important, $75 billion is outrageous. But if it were to be $75 billion times X number of states, it becomes the kind of lawfare that bankrupts energy companies,» he said.

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A suit in Louisiana brought by coastal Plaquemines Parish recently cost Chevron billions for pollution plaintiffs claimed had been caused by its subsidiary Texaco – albeit decades ago, before the two companies were linked.

McCuskey said energy development and the coal and gas industries are so inextricably tied to West Virginia that a loss would be just as catastrophic for Mountaineers.

In the state, primed to celebrate its 162nd birthday on Friday, concerns over the undermining of the energy industry have been a rare point of bipartisanship on any state or federal issue.

Then-Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., so enraged actress Bette Midler for opposing provisions of then-President Joe Biden’s «Build Back Better» plan that she categorized West Virginians as poor and «strung-out» and wrongly wielding political power for having only the population the «size of Brooklyn.»

Manchin and now-Sen. Jim Justice II – then the state’s governor – didn’t take kindly to that characterization, with Justice taking to the House floor in Charleston and holding up his bulldog, Babydog — declaring that Midler could «kiss her heiney.»

Lo aseguró Effie Defrin, portavoz de las Fuerzas de Defensa. Los bombardeos israelíes anularon un tercio de los lanzamisiles del régimen persa, que sigue atacando zonas residenciales y matando civiles

Irán lanzó el lunes una nueva andanada de misiles contra varias ciudades israelíes, matando al menos 11 personas según servicios de emergencia locales, en respuesta a cuatro noches consecutivas de bombardeos israelíes contra territorio iraní. Los proyectiles impactaron edificios en Tel Aviv, Petaj-Tikva, Bnei-Brak y Haifa, mientras los bomberos buscaban sobrevivientes entre los escombros. La Guardia Revolucionaria iraní celebró el “éxito” de los ataques y amenazó con “operaciones más devastadoras” contra objetivos israelíes.

El conflicto se intensificó el viernes cuando Israel lanzó ataques aéreos sin precedentes contra Irán con el objetivo declarado de impedir que se dote de armas nucleares. Los bombardeos israelíes han alcanzado la capital iraní, la ciudad sagrada de Mashhad, instalaciones militares y el centro de enriquecimiento de uranio de Natanz. Según el Ministerio de Salud iraní, los ataques han dejado al menos 224 muertos y más de mil heridos en Irán desde el viernes, mientras que Israel reporta 24 fallecidos en el mismo período.

La escalada marca la primera confrontación militar directa de esta magnitud entre los dos países tras décadas de guerra indirecta. En Teherán, el Gran Bazar permanece cerrado y las calles lucen desiertas mientras columnas de vehículos abandonan la capital. El presidente estadounidense Donald Trump instó a ambos países a “llegar a un acuerdo”, mientras que Turquía y Rusia pidieron el fin inmediato de las hostilidades.

Los últimos ataques se produjeron cuando los líderes internacionales llegaban a Canadá para la cumbre del G7 y afirmaban que los esfuerzos diplomáticos para resolver la crisis serían una prioridad.

A continuación la cobertura en vivo de los ataques entre Israel e Irán:

The Israeli military claimed to have obtained «aerial superiority» over Tehran on Monday, as airstrikes launched by the Jewish state killed four senior Iranian intelligence officials. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has degraded Iranian air defenses and missile systems to the point that Israeli planes can now operate over Tehran without facing major threats. It said Israel now controls the skies from western Iran to Tehran.

According to the Israeli military, «precise intelligence» from the IDF allowed Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets to strike a structure in Tehran where several senior officials from Iranian intelligence were located. The strike eliminated Head of the Intelligence Organization Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Mohammad Kazemi, his deputy Mohammad Hassan Mohaqiq, Head of the Quds Force Intelligence Directorate Mohsen Bakri, and his deputy Abu al-Fadl Nikouei, the IDF said Monday.

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«These officials played a central role in shaping Iran’s strategic assessments and planning terrorist attacks against Israel, the West, and countries in the Middle East,» the IDF said. 

Kazemi, who has held the position since 2022, «was responsible for counterintelligence, espionage, and targeting opponents of the Iranian regime within Iran,» according to the IDF. «In his role, Kazemi oversaw intelligence gathering for terrorist activities and the monitoring of Iranian citizens to suppress dissent and preserve the Iranian regime.» 

The Israeli military said Hassan Mohaqiq «previously chaired the Strategic Intelligence Department and played a key role in the regime’s terrorist operations against Israel, the West, and countries in the Middle East.»

Bakri and al-Fadl Nikouei «were primarily responsible for operational and intelligence support to members of the Iran’s Axis of Terror, including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and militias in Iraq,» and they both «played a significant role in Iran’s efforts to reestablish its presence in Syria and supported Hezbollah’s military buildup in Lebanon,» the IDF said.

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A giant billboard featuring Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fighters and imagery is seen during an anti-Israel rally in downtown Tehran on June 14, 2025.  (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Monday’s announcement «marks a significant blow to the Iranian regime’s intelligence apparatus and its ability to carry out terrorist attacks against the State of Israel,» the IDF said. This comes after the IDF said its strikes killed the Head of the Intelligence Directorate in the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff last Friday.

The IDF has destroyed one-third of the Iranian regime’s missile launchers since first launching its large-scale preemptive strike last Thursday, IDF spokesperson, Brigadier General Effie Defrin, said Monday. 

The IAF destroyed more than 20 surface-to-surface missiles Sunday night before they were about to be launched toward the State of Israel, Defrin said. 

Israel’s air force completed several waves of strikes overnight, targeting approximately 100 military targets in Isfahan in central Iran. 

«In these strikes, more than 20 missiles were simultaneously struck, minutes before they were to be launched toward Israel’s home front,» Defrin said. «In one of the strikes, after a missile launch cell was identified in real-time attempting to launch surface-to-surface missiles toward the State of Israel, the IAF eliminated the launch cell and destroyed the missiles.» 

Rescue workers, police and military officers inspect the site where an Iranian missile struck in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 16, 2025.  (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Meanwhile, Iran fired a new wave of missile attacks on Israel early Monday, triggering air raid sirens across the country. Israeli emergency services reported at least eight killed and dozens more wounded in the fourth day of the conflict.

Powerful explosions, likely from Israel’s defense systems intercepting Iranian missiles, rocked Tel Aviv shortly before dawn, according to the Associated Press. Plumes of black smoke rose into the sky over the major coastal city.

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The latest salvo comes after a weekend of escalating tit-for-tat attacks between Israel and Iran that raised fears of a wider, more dangerous regional war.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.