Trump declares war on state climate laws

Trump declares war on state climate laws

President Donald Trump is throwing the weight of the Justice Department against the last bastion of U.S. climate action: states and cities.

In a sweeping executive order signed late Tuesday, Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to “stop the enforcement of State laws” on climate change that the administration says are unconstitutional, unenforceable or preempted by federal laws.

The order names California, New York and Vermont as specific targets, while also listing a broad range of state policies that the administration would seek to nullify — from cap-and-trade systems to permitting rules.




The executive order also targets the array of lawsuits that mostly Democratic-led states, cities and counties have brought against oil majors, seeking compensation for the ravages of climate change, such as rising tides and more frequent wildfires.

“These State laws and policies are fundamentally irreconcilable with my Administration’s objective to unleash American energy,” Trump said in the order. “They should not stand.”

The move came as Trump presided over a White House event Tuesday aimed at reviving the coal industry, which has withered against competition from less expensive natural gas and renewables.

He pledged to a row of coal miners standing behind him that he’d direct the Department of Justice to “identify and fight every single unconstitutional state or legal regulation that’s putting our coal miners out of business.”

Some legal experts said the White House’s executive order would be “toothless,” though climate advocates worry about gambling with a judiciary dominated by conservative appointees. And in a statement, Democratic governors said Trump would not intimidate them from climate action.

“The federal government cannot unilaterally strip states’ independent constitutional authority,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement. The two Democrats co-chair the U.S. Climate Alliance, representing 22 states committed to reaching net-zero emissions.

“We are a nation of states — and laws — and we will not be deterred,” they said. “We will keep advancing solutions to the climate crisis that safeguard Americans’ fundamental right to clean air and water, create good-paying jobs, grow the clean energy economy, and make our future healthier and safer.”

Trump’s order represents a sharp escalation in his war on climate policy, as well as a continuation of his efforts to consolidate power in the White House at the expense of Congress, courts and, now, the states.




The action comes just three weeks after oil and gas industry executives met with Trump at the White House and expressed worries about state climate efforts and the lawsuits, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported details of the meeting.

An industry source, who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive commercial information, confirmed to POLITICO’s E&E News that Trump appeared to agree that the states’ moves posed a threat to his energy agenda and signaled that he’d look at ways to help the industry.

The American Petroleum Institute cheered Trump’s order as a response to New York’s and California’s laws.

“Directing the Department of Justice to address this state overreach will help restore the rule of law and ensure activist-driven campaigns do not stand in the way of ensuring the nation has access to an affordable and reliable energy supply,” API senior vice president and general counsel Ryan Meyers said in a statement.
Smothering state lawsuits

During Trump’s first term, states and cities emerged as a potent counterweight to the White House’s retreat from climate policy — epitomized by groups like the U.S. Climate Alliance. Governors piloted energy policies, such as New Mexico’s methane regulations, that later grew into some Biden administration policies. Most state policies have also proven more durable than federal climate efforts.

When Trump returned to the presidency this year, Democratic governors and attorneys general — now holding more offices than they did in 2017 — again assumed the role of Trump’s chief antagonists, filing two dozen lawsuits against the administration since January.

Trump’s newest executive order, titled “Protecting American Energy From State Overreach,” seeks to smother that movement in its infancy.

It directs the attorney general to target state laws on carbon taxes and fees, as well as state laws mentioning terms like “environmental justice” and “greenhouse gas emissions.” The order directs Bondi to “expeditiously take all appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State laws and continuation of civil actions … that the Attorney General determines to be illegal.”

Within 60 days, the order says, the attorney general will report on the actions taken against state climate laws and recommend other actions from the president or Congress.

Trump’s order argues that states have exceeded their constitutional authority by imposing energy policies that ripple beyond their borders.

California’s cap-and-trade system is an example, the order said, of states “punishing carbon use” by requiring businesses to purchase allowances for their pollution.

California has operated its cap-and-trade system since 2012. Washington state also has a carbon market, upheld by voters in 2024. Both states are working to “link” their carbon markets together with Quebec’s. Cap and trade also undergirds the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which covers the electricity system for 11 mostly northeastern states.


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California is also the largest player in the climate litigation landscape. The office of state Attorney General Rob Bonta said Tuesday that it “remains committed to using the full force of the law and tools of this office to address the climate crisis head-on and protect public health and welfare.”

A spokesperson for Bonta said the office was reviewing Trump’s executive order, “but this much is clear: the Trump administration continues to attempt to gut federal environmental protections and put the country at risk of falling further behind in our fight against climate change and environmental harm.”

The Trump administration also singled out New York and Vermont, which have recently passed so-called climate Superfund laws that aim to recover the costs of climate impacts, like flooding, from fossil fuel companies. Mimicking the “polluter pays” model from Superfund laws, those states are seeking billions of dollars from oil, gas and coal companies in proportion with the historical emissions from their products.

Trump’s order called New York and Vermont’s laws “extortion” against energy producers for actions “anywhere in the United States or the globe.”

The order also accused states of burdening energy projects with lengthy environmental reviews.

“These State laws and policies weaken our national security and devastate Americans by driving up energy costs for families coast-to-coast, despite some of these families not living or voting in States with these crippling policies,” the order said.
‘Toothless’ order?

Michael Gerrard, faculty director of Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, said the executive order is “toothless” and that a chief executive has little effect on state laws or litigation.

Trump “has no authority on his own to nullify state laws,” Gerrard said.

And he’d likely have little effect with the judiciary, he added, noting that it would be up to the state court judges who are hearing the climate lawsuits to decide whether to allow federal intervention — and then whether to agree with the White House arguments.

The Trump administration has already challenged one major state climate program: New York’s congestion pricing.

But after Trump initially declared it “DEAD” in a social media post declaring “LONG LIVE THE KING,” his administration has agreed to allow the program to continue until at least October, according to court filings.

Trump has a poor record of challenging state and local climate policies, said Justin Balik, vice president of states for Evergreen Action. But that’s cold comfort when the stakes are so high.

“If you’re asking me to evaluate on a scale of 1 to 10 how concerned I am — I’m at a 10,” he said. “It’s another seemingly abstract legal maneuver with incredibly tangible, real world consequences if successful.”

Trump also targeted the climate lawsuits during his first term. Tuesday’s executive order warns that the legal challenges could result in “crippling damages” for the oil and gas industry.

Eleven attorneys general — along with dozens of city, county, and tribal governments — are pursuing lawsuits that charge that the industry misled consumers about the dangers of burning fossil fuels.

Trump’s move comes just a month after the Supreme Court for a second time this year declined to take up the industry and its allies’ efforts to quash the legal dispute that could put oil and gas companies on the hook for billions of dollars for their contributions to climate change.