Politics
DOJ Sues Multiple Blue States For Undermining Trump’s Energy Policies
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed lawsuits against four states this week, all of which have Democrat governors, over climate change directives the DOJ claims conflict with federal authority and President Donald Trump’s energy policies.
On Wednesday, the DOJ filed lawsuits against Hawaii and Michigan over their planned legal action against fossil fuel companies for what they have described as adverse environmental effects. Additional lawsuits were filed against New York and Vermont over their respective climate superfund laws, which would require fossil fuel companies to pay into state-based funds based on previous greenhouse gas emissions.
“These burdensome and ideologically motivated laws and lawsuits threaten American energy independence and our country’s economic and national security,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “The Department of Justice is working to ‘Unleash American Energy’ by stopping these illegitimate impediments to the production of affordable, reliable energy that Americans deserve.”
According to the court filings, the DOJ said the states’ policies “impermissibly regulate out-of-state greenhouse gas emissions and obstruct the Clean Air Act’s comprehensive federal-state framework and EPA’s regulatory discretion.”
The DOJ cited the Clean Air Act — a federal law authorizing the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate air emissions — saying it “displaces the ability of States to regulate greenhouse gas emissions beyond their borders.”
Washington D.C – January 15, 2025: Senate Judiciary Committee considers the nomination of Pamela Bondi for Attorney General.
On Wednesday, the DOJ argued that Hawaii and Michigan are violating the intent of the act that delegates the ability to limit greenhouse gas emissions to the EPA, citing the states’ actions against oil and gas companies.
Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel previously enlisted a private law firm to target fossil fuel companies over alleged climate change impacts. In Hawaii, Governor Josh Green has announced plans to go after oil and gas companies for what he described as widespread ecological harm to the state. He has also suggested that fossil fuel companies are responsible for the deadly Lahaina wildfire in 2023.
A spokesperson for Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s office referred to Nessel when asked for comment by the New York Post.
“This lawsuit is at best frivolous and arguably sanctionable,” Nessel said in a statement. “If the White House or Big Oil wish to challenge our claims, they can do so when our lawsuit is filed; they will not succeed in any attempt to preemptively bar our access to make our claims in the courts. I remain undeterred in my intention to file this lawsuit the President and his Big Oil donors so fear.”
The Trump-led DOJ has described the states’ superfund policies — modeled on the 45-year-old federal superfund law enacted to address the harm associated with hazardous waste sites — “a transparent monetary-extraction scheme. New York is currently seeking $75 million from fossil fuel companies in a move that has drawn legal challenges from 22 states, while Vermont has yet to announce specifics on its own superfund policies.
“By purporting to regulate the effect of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change, the Act necessarily reaches far beyond” the states of New York and Vermont, the DOJ argued.
