The Trump administration is asking a judge to strike down Vermont’s “climate Superfund” law that seeks to force energy companies to pay the state’s cost of adapting to climate change.
In a brief filed Monday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, the administration urged the court to “end Vermont’s lawless experiment.” It argues that the state law “clashes with U.S. foreign policy” and “directly regulates conduct outside Vermont that bears no discernible connection to the state.”
It also describes the legislation as “an attack on the supremacy of federal law that threatens the balance of power between the national government and the states,” and asks the court to end the case without a trial.
The government’s move comes months after the Justice Department and EPA filed lawsuits against Vermont and New York over their climate Superfund laws, which are modeled on the “polluter pays” idea of the federal Superfund program.
