New York state climate-change law targeted by Trump executive order
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order targeting state laws meant to combat climate change or penalize companies that contribute to it ― and the order takes direct aim at a law in New York state.
Trump signed the order, “Protecting American Energy from State Overreach,” on Tuesday. The order is “aimed at securing America’s energy dominance by removing unlawful and burdensome state-level impediments to domestic energy production,” according to a White House fact sheet.
In the order, Trump specifically mentions New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act, signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December, which would require companies that significantly contribute to the buildup of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere to pay for infrastructure projects meant to repair or combat damage from climate change.
In his executive order, Trump says that “New York, for example, 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.”
It’s not the first challenge to the New York law. In February, 21 states and several industry groups filed a lawsuit hoping to block the law. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the law “an unconstitutional shakedown of vital American energy industries.”
Tuesday’s executive order directs U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify “state laws and policies that burden the use of domestic energy resources and that are unconstitutional, preempted by federal law, or otherwise unenforceable.” and to “expeditiously take all appropriate action to stop the enforcement” of those laws.
“These State laws and policies are fundamentally irreconcilable with my Administration’s objective to unleash American energy. They should not stand.”
Hochul and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, co-chairs of the U.S. Climate Alliance, issued a joint statement questioning the legality of Trump’s order.
“The federal government cannot unilaterally strip states’ independent constitutional authority. We are a nation of states ― and laws ― and we will not be deterred. 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,” the statement read.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, a frequent foe of Trump, weighed in on the social media platform X.
“The Trump administration cannot punish states for adopting laws that protect their residents. New York’s clean energy laws ensure a stronger, greener, and healthier future for all New Yorkers, and we’re not going to back down,” James posted.