President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo/Alex Brandon).
A coalition of 15 states has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for declaring a national “energy emergency” earlier this year, claiming there was no real emergency, as stated in their federal complaint.
Led by attorneys general from Washington state and California, the coalition is questioning the validity of the energy emergency announced by the president on Jan. 20 under the National Emergencies Act. They assert that the administration’s declaration was an improper way to sidestep important ecological, historical, and cultural reviews, as well as the necessary permitting processes for numerous proposed fossil fuel projects nationwide that are currently in progress or planned for the future, as outlined in the complaint.
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The states argue that emergency procedures should normally be reserved for situations such as natural disasters or major accidents like hurricanes, floods, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, which the coalition refers to as examples in their complaint.
“But now, prodded onto the shakiest of limbs by the President’s unsupported and unlawful Executive Order, multiple federal agencies now seek to broadly employ these emergency procedures in non-emergency situations,” the complaint says.
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Filed Friday by the state AGs — all Democrats — the “energy emergency” lawsuit was brought in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
The other states suing are Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
The AGs are targeting the president’s Jan. 20 executive order, “Declaring a National Energy Emergency,” which they say commands the heads of executive departments and federal agencies, including the United States Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps), the Department of Interior (Interior), and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), to issue permits and other approvals “necessary for energy-related projects on an expedited and emergency basis,” according to the complaint.
“The Executive Order is unlawful, and its commands that federal agencies disregard the law and in many cases their own regulations to fast-track extensive categories of activities,” the coalition alleges. “The invocation of the Nation’s emergency authorities, however, is reserved for actual emergencies — not changes in Presidential policy.”
