The Trump administration this week has boosted efforts to erode climate progress across the country through a capacity to undermine states’ own environmental policies, including California’s ability to oppose key components of climate change.
The president directed Atti in an order on April 8. General Pam Bondi has identified and “stopped” state laws to address climate change and other environmental plans.
“Many states have enacted, or are enacting, heavy and ideological 'climate change' or energy policies that threaten the U.S. energy advantages and our economic and national security,” the president wrote in the executive order.
“These state laws and policies are fundamentally irreconcilable, which is irreconcilable to my administration’s goal of releasing American energy,” he wrote. “They shouldn’t stand.”
Claims of federal power over state rights seem to run contrary to some of Trump’s other positions—for example, he ran for state rights such as abortion. The order specifically calls on several states, including New York and Vermont, which he accused of “ranspepping” fossil fuel companies of past contributions to the planet’s warm greenhouse gas emissions.
The order also targets California's cap and trade program, a first measure that sets restrictions on companies' greenhouse gas emissions and allows them to sell “credit” to other companies to sell “points” to other companies.
“For example, California punishes the use of carbon by using an impossible ceiling on the number of carbon businesses, except for forcing businesses to pay huge fees to “trade” carbon credits to meet California's radical requirements,” the president wrote.
The executive order marks a continuation of Trump's recent anti-environmental efforts, which include cuts in funding, widespread office closures and layoffs in the climate research community, easing regulations and renewed efforts to expand oil and coal production – two sectors that have contributed greatly to the global warming.
This also marks the escalation of Trump's conflict with California. In recent months, the president has specifically targeted Democratic strongholds, including threats to avoid disaster assistance in response to wildfire responses and recovery from issues such as forest management and water policy.
“There’s a little beef between Trump and the country,” said Maggie Coulter, senior attorney at the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Nonprofit Biodiversity. “I think it’s part of the reason why CAP and TRADE were mentioned.”
Capped transactions aren't the only California program that can cross-trip in the federal government. The order directs Bondi to seek and prioritize laws addressing climate change, environmental justice, greenhouse gas emissions and carbon taxes, which “a bit like a laundry list of everything the oil and gas industry doesn’t like.”
To this end, the executive order could also impact California’s ability to set strict tailpipe emission standards and work to transition to electric vehicles, including a state law that prohibits the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles in 2035.
The Trump administration has taken action to block the laws, which are now working in court.
The executive order could also impact California polluters pay for the 2025 Climate Superfund Act, which currently plays a role in the state legislature, requiring fossil fuel companies to pay for damage caused by their greenhouse gas emissions. This is similar to legislation in New York and Vermont, Kurt said.
Cassidy Dipaola, communications director for Polluters Pay Polluters Pay Polluters, said blocking these laws is similar to immunity to the fossil fuel industry, which is different from protecting gun manufacturers from certain civil lawsuits.
“President Trump's executive order puts the Justice Department's weapons weapons against states like California, hoping to make polluters pay for climate damage,” Dipaola wrote in a statement. “This is the despair of the fossil fuel industry for full display- they are so scared of facing evidence of deception in court that they convinced the president to launch a federal attack on state sovereignty.”
Indeed, the oil and gas industry celebrated the order – in the order issued the same week, the president also ordered the immediate expansion of coal production in the country, including opening up federal land for coal leases and extending the operating life of existing coal-fired power plants.
“We welcome the actions taken by President Trump to hold the responsibilities of states such as New York and California, responsible for unconstitutional efforts to illegally punish U.S. oil and gas producers for providing U.S. consumers’ energy every day,” a statement from Ryan Meyers, senior vice president of the U.S. Petroleum Institute.
The Trump administration said its environmental rollbacks are designed to reduce regulatory costs, reduce taxes and expand the creation of “affordable and reliable domestic energy supply.”
“In short, Americans are better when the United States has energy dominance,” Trump's executive order said.
The order gives Bundy 60 days to compile a list of applicable state climate laws and submit reports on action to the president and recommends stopping other legislative steps required to enforce these state laws.
Coulter of the Institute for Climate Law said that it would be an illegal and unconstitutional overrevealing that actually prevents states from enforcing their laws.
“It's not something Trump or the attorney general can do,” Kurt said. “If you want to stop enforcing state laws, you have to go to court, and that's the jurisdiction of the court.”
If the government actually tries to prevent states from enforcing their own laws, then litigation and legal challenges are almost certain, she said.
