By Claire Brown and Karen Zraick, The New York Times
In April, President Trump issued an executive order announcing his plan to protect “American energy from state overreach” and directing the Justice Department to block state and local climate initiatives “that threaten American energy dominance and our economic and national security.”
Last week, the contours of that effort became clearer when the department filed lawsuits against four states.
Two of the lawsuits target climate superfund laws passed last year in Vermont and New York, which are designed to force fossil fuel companies to help pay for climate-related costs. Also last week, the Justice Department filed lawsuits against Hawaii and Michigan just days after learning Hawaii was planning to sue fossil fuel companies for climate-related damages, as nine other states have done. Michigan had also indicated was planning to sue.
When the executive order was first issued, many legal experts said it amounted to little more than a signaling exercise because presidents do not have the power to alter state laws. The new legal actions will test the limits of that theory, and also test the willingness of states to pursue their climate plans.
“We had expected the administration to do lots of deregulatory actions,” said Meghan Greenfield, an environmental lawyer who previously worked at the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency and is now a partner at the law firm Jenner & Block. “I don’t think that we expected, also, at the same time, an offensive effort against the states.”
In areas like abortion and education, the Trump administration has supported states’ rights to make their own policies, a traditionally Republican position. The executive order on state climate policies “works in the opposite direction,” Greenfield said. “It’s taking away authorities that states have been exercising,” she said.
In response to a request for comment, the White House pointed to a Department of Justice statement announcing the four lawsuits.
Here are some of the state climate initiatives that may face challenges.
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