President Trump issued an executive order Tuesday that calls on U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify and block enforcement of state climate change statutes, including superfund and carbon cap laws.
The order specifically cites New York and California, where Democrats control the legislatures and the governor’s offices and have been at the vanguard of enacting climate legislation.
The announcement marks a broadside against Democrat-led states, which have sought to fill a void created by the federal government’s inaction. More than a dozen states have enacted laws requiring a shift to clean or renewable energy, with some of those setting economy-wide caps on carbon emissions that go beyond targeting power plants.
“These State laws and policies are fundamentally irreconcilable with my Administration’s objective to unleash American energy,” the executive order said. “They should not stand.”
The action was praised by the American Petroleum Institute, the only national trade association representing all aspects of the nation’s oil and natural gas industry.
“We welcome President Trump’s action to hold states like New York and California accountable for pursuing unconstitutional efforts that illegally penalize U.S. oil and natural gas producers for delivering the energy American consumers rely on every day,” API said in a statement. “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.”
The order, titled Protecting American Energy from State Overreach, requires the attorney general to submit a report to the president in 60 days outlining actions taken to comply with the order.
It calls on Bondi, with the help of other federal agencies, to prioritize the identification of state laws seeking to address climate change; environmental, social, and governance initiatives, known as ESG; environmental justice; carbon or greenhouse gas emissions; and funds to collect carbon penalties or carbon taxes.
Bondi “shall expeditiously take all appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State laws … that the Attorney General determines to be illegal,” the order said.
In December, New York became the second state after Vermont to enact a climate superfund law, which requires oil and gas companies to pay into a fund for projects to address climate change. Lawmakers in at least seven states introduced climate superfund bills this year.
The New York law established two funds that would require top oil and gas companies doing business in the state to pay a combined total of $75 billion over 25 years. Vermont is in the process of determining how to structure its fund. Vermont is being sued over its law by oil and gas industry interests. New York is being sued by 22 Republican attorneys general.
The order calls superfund laws “extortion.”
“New York … enacted a ‘climate change’ extortion law that seeks to retroactively impose billions in fines (erroneously labelled ‘compensatory payments’) on traditional energy producers for their purported past contributions to greenhouse gas emissions not only in New York but also anywhere in the United States and the world,” the order said. “Vermont similarly extorts energy producers for alleged past contributions to greenhouse gas emissions anywhere in the United States or the globe.”
The order also cites California’s cap-and-trade program. Launched in 2013, the program is a key tool of the state’s broader efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve a net-zero carbon economy by 2045. The program sets a statewide cap on greenhouse-gas emissions, with the cap tightening over time.
The program works by creating a market in which emitters can buy allowances to cover their emissions up to the cap. Each year, fewer allowances are offered at auctions as the annual cap declines.
The order characterized the California program as a way to “punish carbon use … all but forcing businesses to pay large sums to ‘trade’ carbon credits to meet California’s radical requirements.”
California is in talks with Oregon and Quebec to link their carbon markets to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a more cost-effective way.
New York is also poised to launch a cap-and-invest program, made possible under a 2019 climate law. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) delayed its launch in January.