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Trump issued an executive order declaring a “national energy
emergency ” on the first day of his presidency. The order urges
oil and gas expansion through federal use of eminent domain and
the Defense Production Act, which allows the government to use
private land and resources to produce goods deemed to be a
national necessity.
Those kinds of steps are supposed to be reserved for actual
emergencies, such as projects needed in the aftermath of
disasters like hurricanes, flooding or major oil spills, the
attorneys general wrote in the lawsuit filed in Washington state
on Friday.
But now, Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown and the
other plaintiffs said, agencies like the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers and the Department of Interior are bypassing required
reviews under federal laws like the Clean Water Act and the
Endangered Species Act.
“The President of the United States has the authority to
determine what is a national emergency, not state attorneys or
the courts,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers wrote in an
email. “President Trump recognizes that unleashing American
energy is crucial to both our economic and national security.”
The attorneys general said reliable and affordable electricity
is of critical importance to the nation, but noted that U.S.
energy production is already at an all-time high.
“The Executive Order is unlawful, and its commands that federal
agencies disregard the law and in many cases their own
regulations to fast-track extensive categories of activities
will result in damage to waters, wetlands, critical habitat,
historic and cultural resources, endangered species, and the
people and wildlife that rely on these precious resources,” they
wrote in the lawsuit.
“The shortcuts inherent in rushing through emergency processes
fundamentally undermine the rights of States,” the attorneys
general said, noting that the federal Clean Water Act grants
states the right to protect water quality within their own
borders.
They want a federal judge to declare the executive order
unlawful and bar the agencies from pursuing emergency permitting
for non-emergency projects.
Brown and California Attorney General Rob Bonta are leading the
lawsuit, and the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut,
Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota,
New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin have
signed on.
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