Justice department sues Hawaii, Michigan over suits against big oil for climate harm | Trump administration
On Wednesday, the US Department of Justice filed lawsuits against Hawaii and Michigan On the planned legal procedures against Fossil fuel companies For the damage caused by Climate crisisThe claim of the state’s actions contradicts the authority of the federal government Donald TrumpEnergy dominance agenda.
Laws, which legal experts say unprecedented, is a sign of the latest Trump administration“Attacks on environmental work and lose concern about the state’s capabilities to maintain the authority to take climate action without federal opposition.
In the court deposits, the Ministry of Justice said that the fair air law – a federal law that allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate air emissions – “creates a comprehensive program to regulate air pollution in the United States and” solve “the state’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions outside its borders.”
The Ministry of Justice argues that Hawaii Michigan The intention of the law, which enables the Environmental Protection Agency authority to set standards at the country level of greenhouse gases, is violating, citing the suspended litigation against oil and gas companies due to the alleged damage to the climate.
Dana Nessel, the Michigan Prosecutor, Dana Nessel, a democracy, last year, exploited private law firms to pursue fossil fuel industry to negatively affect the country’s climate and environment.
Meanwhile, Hawaii Governor Josh Green, another democratic, is planning to target fossil fuel companies, who said he should bear responsibility for their role in the consequences of the climate in the state, including the deadly Lahaina Wildfire in 2023.
Upon burning, fossil fuels release emissions such as carbon dioxide that heats the planet.
The framework of the court of the Ministry of Justice said that the laws of both countries “are regulated unacceptable emissions of greenhouse gas outside the state, obstructing the comprehensive framework of the federal state in the clean air law and an organizational estimate of the Environmental Protection Agency.”
The Ministry of Justice has also repeated the Republican President’s demands for emergency and the American energy crisis. “While the states should contribute to a national effort to secure reliable sources for local energy,” Hawaii and Michigan “choose to stand on the way.”
A spokesman for the Michigan Democratic Governor’s Office, Gretchin, is postponed to Nissil when he was asked to comment.
“This lawsuit at best is trivial and it can be said that it can be punished,” Nissil said in a statement. “If the White House or large oil wants to challenge our claims, they can do so when our lawsuit is filed, you will not succeed in any attempt to prevent our arrival proactively to submit our claims in the courts. I am still not concerned with my intention to file this lawsuit to the president and the great donors of fear.”
Green’s office and the Hawaiian Prosecutor’s Office immediately did not respond to suspension requests.
But legal experts have worried about government arguments.
The usual procedures are that the Ministry of Justice requests that the court interfere in the suspended environmental litigation – as is the case in some cases throughout the country.
“It is very unusual,” Gerard told Associated Press. “What we expected is that they will interfere in the suspended lawsuits, and not to try to follow up or prevent the lawsuit. It is an aggressive step to support the fossil fuel industry.
“It raises all kinds of eyebrows,” he added. “It is a tactic intimidation, and it tells fossil fuel companies how much Trump loves.”
Ane Carlson, a professor of environmental law at the University of California, Los Angeles, who had previously consulted in climate lawsuits, said this week’s lawsuits appear to be “like Doug, the absorption of straw”, noting that the official of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zelen, said that his agency is seeking to cancel the discovery in the clean air under the greenhouse gases in the public presence.
“Therefore, on the one hand, the United States says that Michigan and other countries cannot regulate greenhouse gases because the clean air law does so, and thus prevents states from regulating,” said Carlson. “On the other hand, the United States is trying to say that the clean air law of the organization should not be used. Hypocrisy should not be used.”
the Trump administration The climate policy has strongly targeted the investment of fossil fuels. Federal agencies have announced plans to support coal power, wrap water and air lists, renewable energy sources, and to double the expansion of oil and gas.
