President Trump Issues Order Targeting State and Local Climate Laws and Policies

In continuation of the flurry of energy and environmental-related executive orders issued by President Trump since the start of his presidency, an executive order entitled “Protecting American Energy from State Overreach” (the “Order”) was issued on April 8, 2025. As part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to “unleash American energy,” the Order aims to identify and prevent the enforcement of state and local climate laws and policies that are believed to “regulate energy beyond their constitutional or statutory authority” with a particular focus on those that impact oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, geothermal, biofuel, critical mineral, and nuclear energy resources. 

For more information on the energy and environmental-related executive orders previously issued by President Trump, read our articles here and here.

Purpose of the Order

As part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign to boost domestic energy production, the Order seeks to dismantle “burdensome and ideologically motivated ‘climate change’ or energy policies” imposed by state and local governments, particularly those that impact domestic industries such as oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, geothermal, biofuel, critical mineral, and nuclear energy resources.

The Order names New York, Vermont, and California as having laws or programs that regulate energy beyond the states’ constitutional or statutory authorities, with President Trump pointing to New York and Vermont’s enactment of climate superfund laws that impose fines on fossil fuel producers for past contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, and California’s cap-and-trade program as examples of the type of climate change laws and policies that the Order intends to target. While the Order does not specifically name any other states with similar climate change laws or policies, it purports to censure a broad range of state actions, such as delaying review of permit applications to produce energy and suing energy companies for climate change harm by relying on the concept of nuisance under tort law, for instance. Notably, while not named in the Order, at least eleven other states through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative also have cap-and-trade programs for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. No local laws were named in the Order.

Specifics of the Order

Section 2 of the Order instructs the Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to “identify all State and local laws, regulations, causes of action, policies, and practices . . . burdening the identification, development, siting, production, or use of domestic energy resources that may be unconstitutional, preempted by federal law, or otherwise unenforceable[,]” (collectively, “Climate Laws”) and “expeditiously” take all appropriate actions to stop the enforcement of and continuation of civil actions of such Climate Laws that she deems illegal. Importantly, the Order directs the Attorney General to prioritize identifying any such Climate Laws that purport to address “climate change” or involve “environmental, social, and governance” (“ESG”) initiatives, “environmental justice,” “carbon” or “greenhouse gas” emissions, and funds to collect carbon penalties or carbon taxes.

Within 60 days of the Order, the Attorney General is to provide a report of actions taken to implement the Order along with recommendations for presidential and legislative actions necessary to stop the enforcement of any Climate Laws that the Attorney General determines to be illegal “or otherwise fulfill the purpose of the [O]rder.”

Takeaways and Potential Implications

The Order’s focus on laws and policies that address climate change, ESG initiatives, environmental justice, carbon or greenhouse gas emissions, or carbon penalties or taxes puts many Democratic states in the crosshairs. The Order primarily initiates a review of Climate Laws, which the Attorney General's Office will undertake over the coming months. The Order does not directly oppose, bar, claim federal preemption of, or legally challenge any specific Climate Laws.

The Order leaves many questions unanswered, which will largely remain unanswered until the Attorney General publicly identifies the relevant Climate Laws subject to the Order. It is expected that the implementation of the Order will result in time- and resource-intensive litigation alleging, among other things, preemption of state and local law and policies by federal law and violations of the U.S. Constitution. Such litigation would generally be handled or supported by DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (“ENRD”); however, pursuant to a memorandum released by the Office of the Deputy Attorney General on March 25, 2025, DOJ is planning a major reorganization of ENRD, which may impact the resources available to support implementation of the Order. 

The pending legal challenges to state climate legislation will surely intensify. States such as Vermont and New York are currently fighting legal challenges concerning their climate laws that were enacted last year. In Vermont, the American Petroleum Institute, alongside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has filed lawsuits contesting these regulations. Meanwhile, New York's Climate Change Superfund Act is being challenged by a coalition led by West Virginia and accompanied by several coal, gas, and oil sectors as well as 21 other predominantly Republican-led states, including Texas, Ohio, and Georgia. 

At the federal level, it is expected that implementation of the Order may result in (1) recommendations for legislative action to protect certain energy sectors or create federal preemption where it does not currently exist, and (2) the withholding of federal funds or the attachment of new conditions to federal funding, which could pose a more immediate threat to states and localities. The Trump administration has already cut off funding for many Biden-era climate change projects, including $20 billion in grants under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and a portion of the $27 billion in funds under the Inflation Reduction Act that expands loan financing and other support for clean energy projects in low-income communities. These funds remain frozen while litigation challenging these freezes is pending.

The Order will likely have a chilling effect on the enactment of new state or local laws or policies that address climate change, ESG initiatives, environmental justice, carbon or greenhouse gas emissions, or carbon penalties or taxes.

Special thank you to Shun Iwamitsu, Law Clerk in the Energy & Infrastructure Group, for his contribution to this alert.