ADVERTISINGThe Trump administration filed demands against two US states on Wednesday to prevent them from undertaking legal actions against fossil fuel companies by the damages caused by climate change. On Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) demanded two other states for its climatic laws.
The officials of the four Democratic states –Hawai and Michigan, New York and Vermont– They are challenging before these unprecedented demands, which conform to the model of climate measures that Trump has carried out during his first 100 days back to power. In last year’s electoral campaign, he promised to “stop the wave of frivolous litigation of environmental extremists.”
That was again the tone in a statement by Attorney General Pamela Bondi about the recent demands. “These expensive and ideologically motivated demands and lawsuits threaten the American energy independence And the economic and national security of our country, “he wrote.
The Department of Justice alleges that the climatic actions of the states conflict with the federal authority and Trump’s energy domain agenda – after the president signed an executive order declaring a Energy emergency National on his first day in office, on January 20. This is what is happening in each state, and how leaders have responded.
Hawaii and Michigan’s demands
Despite the threat, Hawaii presented his Thursday demand against seven groups of affiliated fossil fuel companies and the American Petroleum Institute. It alleges damage to the resources of the public trust, negligence and more, reports Associated press.
Governor Josh Green said he addresses fossil fuel companies that must assume responsibility for their role in the Climate change impacts in the state, including the mortal forest fire of Lahaina in 2023.
“This demand is intended to hold these parties, transfer the costs that entail the climate crisis and Protect Hawaii citizens in the future“He said in a statement.
The litigation presented Wednesday by the US Department of Justice affirmed that the planned demand would constitute an “extraordinary extraterritorial scope” that would illegally undermine the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.
Comments from the Department of Justice also applied to Michigan, who is also fighting against oil and gas companies for alleged climatic damage.
The Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel announced last year her intention to Sue the fossil fuel industry for its role in the negative impact on the climate and the environment of the State.
In a statement shared yesterday, Nessel said: “I remain impertérrita in my intention to submit this lawsuit that the president and his donors of the great oil companies fear.”
Described the demand for “Surprising degradation” of the White House And of the Department of Justice and said that presenting it before Michigan had sued it was “in the best of frivolous cases and could be sanctionable.”
The White House and the oil industry “will not succeed in any attempt to prevent our access to submit our claims before the courts,” he added.
New York and Vermont defend the laws of superfondo by the weather
The Department of Justice has also sued New York and Vermont, challenging its laws of the climate approved last year. These 45 -year laws, designed to face damage associated with hazardous waste landfills, would force fossil fuel companies to pay state funds based on their previous emissions of Greenhouse gases.
The DOJ described the “transparent monetary extraction scheme” laws. He argued that the laws of the states also intend Regulate greenhouse gas emissions -a national and world scale-, thus violating the authority of the federal government.
ADVERTISINGIn response, a spokesman for the governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, declared that the Democratic leader “believes that polluting companies must pay for damages caused To our environment, not the New Yorkers on foot. We will not go back, nor before large oil companies or before federal overreach. “Vermont’s attorney, Charity Clark, said she was wishing to represent Vermont in this case.
An aggressive step in support from the fossil fuel industry
Legal experts have expressed their surprise and concern for the movements of the United States government this week. “It is very unusual,” Michael Gerrard, founder and director of the Faculty of the Sabin Law on Climate Change of Columbia, told AP, in relation to the cases of Hawaii and Michigan.
“What we expected is that they intervene in the pending demands, not to try to advance or prevent a demand from being presented. It is a aggressive movement in support from the fossil fuel industry“.
Ann Carlson, a professor of environmental law at the University of California at Los Angeles, said that the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lee Zeldin, has declared that his agency intends to annul Clean air law that greenhouse gases endanger public health and well -being.
ADVERTISING“On the one hand, the United States is saying that Michigan and other states cannot Regulate greenhouse gases Because the clean air law does it and, therefore, prevents the states from regulating them, “said Carlson.” On the other hand, the United States tries to say that the clean air law should not be used to regulate. “
