Trump Declares All State Climate, Environment Laws Null And Void Because F*ck It Why Not
"States' rights" are just for segregation we guess.
While he was busily bringing back the entire dying coal industry through wishful thinking Tuesday, Donald Trump also issued an executive order aimed at rolling back state laws on climate, because he is the Boss of America and no stupid state is allowed to buck federal law, meaning not only the actual laws but also the executive orders where Trump says “hereby” and then everyone must obey the new federal law he just shat out.
It just really grinds Trump’s gears that anyone is still acting like climate change is a real thing based in science and also their own eyeballs, even though he proclaimed it to be a radical-Left Marxist something or other his first day in office. And states have definitely been taking action on climate, going back to Trump’s first term and starting again last year, just in case the creep returned to office.
Tuesday’s executive order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to prevent any state laws on climate from being enforced if the administration deems them “unconstitutional, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable.” In particular, the order calls on Bondi to block enforcement of state laws
purporting to address “climate change” or involving “environmental, social, and governance” initiatives, “environmental justice,” carbon or “greenhouse gas” emissions, and funds to collect carbon penalties or carbon taxes.
But only the ones that she decides are illegal, so that’s OK.
The order singles out several allegedly “burdensome and ideologically motivated ‘climate change’ or energy policies that threaten American energy dominance,” such as New York’s Climate Superfund law which seeks to fund climate mitigation and adaptation in the state through fees on the climate-polluting companies that caused the mess in the first place. Trump calls that an “extortion law” that unfairly seeks to fine “traditional energy producers for their purported past contributions to greenhouse gas emissions,” as if any of that were real. He also gripes at Vermont for a similar law, and wants Bondi to make those state laws go away.
But here’s the thing. Both states’ “climate superfund” laws are already being challenged in the federal courts. New York is being sued by a coalition of Republican state attorneys general and fossil fuel industry groups, and the same goes for Vermont, which is being sued by the US Chamber of Commerce and by Big Oil’s lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute. There’s no reason for the federal government to interfere, and if Bondi does try to take action against states, they’re certain to sue to stop it.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the co-chairs of the United States Climate Alliance, a group of 24 states working to reduce emissions, said in a statement that “The federal government cannot unilaterally strip states’ independent constitutional authority.”
“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 also wants to go after California’s cap-and-trade program, claiming it impedes his federal energy policy and is a danger to “national security” because we need global warming to be safe. Trump in his first term tried to sue California’s 2012 law, but that suit was tossed out of federal court in 2020. The judge in that case ruled that the administration “failed to show that California’s program impermissibly intrudes on the federal government’s foreign affairs power.”
Also, Trump wants Bondi to kill off states’ lawsuits against Big Oil, which allege — and oh mercy, the evidence is plentiful — that the oil companies’ own scientists knew for decades that burning fossil fuels causes global warming, but covered it up to keep selling the filthy stuff.
There again, the feds shouldn’t be able to interfere, since the cases are going forward in state courts, and would have to be decided by state judges, says Michael Gerrard of Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. State judges would have to decide whether to let the feds get involved at all, Gerrard said. The Supremes recently shot down an attempt by Republican state attorneys general to end five blue-state lawsuits against oil companies, though that decision mostly turned on the red states’ lack of standing to get all up in other states’ legal business.
That’s not a lot of comfort for climate advocates, who point out that even if Trump doesn’t prevail in court, he might still seek to punish states for being mean to his Big Oil buddies, like withholding federal transportation money or maybe sending Elon Musk’s DOGE boys to let all the water out of their dams. That of course would trigger further lawsuits from the states.
We have no idea where this will all end up. Trump has so far focused on trying to be absolute monarch of federal law, in defiance of Congress, so it remains to be seen how successful he’ll be at nullifying state laws.
[White House (executive order) / Politico / Grist / E&E News]
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For a nice distraction from the awfulness, the annual BLM employee photo awards are very satisfying to look at, as a reminder that there are a lot of people in the federal government doing important work. Or that there have been such people... (darn it, spoiled the positivity).
But back to the positive vibe: I think my favorite category is "The land we protect." Just some terrific, inspiring pics.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nifc/albums/72177720322545334/
“The federal government cannot unilaterally strip states’ independent constitutional authority.”
If you changed "climate change" to "abortion" this quotation would be coming from a Republican.