President Donald Trump is facing another lawsuit from a coalition of states, this time over his efforts to fast-track energy-related projects that the plaintiffs say have attempted to bypass environmental protection laws.
Newsweek reached out to the White House and the Department of the Interior (DOI) by email on Saturday afternoon outside of normal business hours for comment.
Why It Matters
The Trump administration has suffered legal gridlock as Democratic states and civil rights groups continue seeking to stymie Trump’s efforts to significantly overhaul various systems and institution within the country.
Trump focused heavily on the energy sector during his 2024 presidential campaign, during which he popularized the phrase “drill, baby, drill” to encapsulate his plans to create an energy-independent United States, which will not need to import oil and gas from foreign sources at the level it has previously done.
What To Know
Trump on the first day of his administration issued an executive order that declared a “National Energy Emergency,” which aims to empower the various related agencies to “facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources, including, but not limited to, on Federal lands.”
The order also seeks to “expedite the completion of all authorized and appropriated infrastructure, energy, environmental, and natural resources projects that are within the identified authority of each of the Secretaries to perform or to advance.”
Over 100 days after taking office, Trump is now facing legal pushback on this order, with a coalition of 15 states alleging that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the DOI, headed up by former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, are bypassing required reviews under federal laws, specifically the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Friday, led by Washington state Attorney General Nicholas Brown and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, includes attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin.
The plaintiffs have urged the courts to declare Trump’s order unlawful and enjoin the Corps of Engineers and Advisory Council on Historic Preservation from issuing permits and other authorizations related to the order.
“Unlawfully bypassing proper permitting procedures for hundreds of projects currently proposed in and around the Nation—and presumably many more in the future—will result in significant and irreparable harm to state natural and historic resources and the people and biota that rely on those resources for drinking, farming, recreating, and habitat,” the plaintiffs wrote in their filing.
The filing added: “The shortcuts inherent in rushing through emergency processes fundamentally undermine the rights of States.”
What People Are Saying
California Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday: “We’re suing President Trump over his unlawful executive order declaring a ‘national energy emergency’ and federal agencies that have issued procedures to expedite energy project permits under that directive.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel wrote on X on Thursday: “Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a lawsuit today alongside 14 other attorneys general to challenge the Trump Administration’s unlawful declaration of an ‘energy emergency.’”
What Happens Next?
The Trump administration will respond to the lawsuit and fight this case as it has any other brought against it by Democratic states.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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