A Saturday deadline for the Justice Department to outline its plans for combating state climate action has come and gone without the Trump administration disclosing anything.
President Donald Trump sent shock waves through state capitals earlier this year when he signed a sweeping executive order — “Protecting American Energy From State Overreach” — that directed the Justice Department to target any state climate policies “burdening” energy development.
Trump’s order named specific targets, such as so-called climate superfund laws in New York and Vermont, as well as state lawsuits against the fossil fuel sector. In the wake of Trump’s order, the Justice Department followed through on challenges to those policies — including an unusual lawsuit seeking to preempt Hawaii and Michigan from suing fossil fuel companies.
But Trump’s April 8 order also gestured at an even more aggressive campaign, and it set a 60-day deadline for Attorney General Pam Bondi to sketch out a plan for it.
