A new order aims to identify any state laws, regulations, policies, or practices that may be unenforceable.
President Donald Trump, among a flurry of energy-related executive orders on April 8, has instructed the Department of Justice to review state energy rules and regulations so it can challenge any that may be overreaching.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is directed to identify any state laws, regulations, policies, or practices that “are or may be unconstitutional, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable,” according to the new order.
Trump identified oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, geothermal, biofuel, critical mineral, and nuclear energy resources as domestic energy sectors that may be facing such unfair impediments to their domestic growth and development.
“American energy dominance is threatened when State and local governments seek to regulate energy beyond their constitutional or statutory authorities,” the order reads, pointing to discriminatory barriers to interstate and international trade with out-of-state energy producers, and arbitrary or excessive fines that are retroactively slapped on energy producers “without legitimate justification.”
The order said that many states have or are about to enact “burdensome and ideologically motivated ‘climate change’ or energy policies that threaten American energy dominance and our economic and national security.”
Some states have passed climate-related regulations that have had the impact of reducing investment in fossil fuel energy production and use.
Trump specifically cited laws in New York and Vermont that fine fossil fuel companies for their state-determined contribution to predicted “climate change” impacts.
He also cited California’s cap-and-trade policy.
States, in their lawsuits, have also sought to hold energy companies accountable for their role in projected “climate change” and its estimated impacts.
“My administration is committed to unleashing American energy, especially through the removal of all illegitimate impediments,” Trump said in the order. “Americans must be permitted to heat their homes, fuel their cars, and have peace of mind—free from policies that make energy more expensive and inevitably degrade quality of life.”
By Melanie Sun
