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WASHINGTON — The Justice Department today filed complaints against the
states of New York and Vermont over their “climate superfund laws.” In
separate actions, the Justice Department yesterday filed lawsuits against
the states of Hawaii and Michigan to prevent each state from suing fossil
fuel companies in state court to seek damages for alleged climate change
harms.

President Trump recently directed Attorney General Pamela Bondi to take
action to stop the enforcement of state laws that unreasonably burden
domestic energy development so that energy will once again be reliable and affordable for all Americans. These lawsuits advance President Trump’s directive in Executive Order 14260, Protecting American Energy from State Overreach.

“These burdensome and ideologically motivated laws and lawsuits threaten American energy independence and our country’s economic and national
security,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Department of Justice
is working to ‘Unleash American Energy’ by stopping these illegitimate impediments to the production of affordable, reliable energy that
Americans deserve.”

“When states seek to regulate energy beyond their constitutional or
statutory authority, they harm the country’s ability to produce energy and
they aid our adversaries,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Department’s filings seek to protect Americans from
unlawful state overreach that would threaten energy independence critical
to the wellbeing and security of all Americans.”

According to the complaints filed yesterday in the U.S. District Courts
for the District of Hawaii and the Western District of Michigan, Hawaii
and Michigan intend to sue fossil fuel companies to seek damages for
alleged climate change harms. The government alleges that these
anticipated actions are preempted by the Clean Air Act and violate the Constitution. Such lawsuits burden energy production, force the American
people to pay more for energy, and make the United States less able to
defend itself from hostile foreign actors.

Complaints filed today in U.S. District Courts for the Southern District
of New York and for the District of Vermont challenge expropriative laws
passed by New York and Vermont. These “climate superfund” laws would
impose strict liability on energy companies for their worldwide activities extracting or refining fossil fuels. The laws assess penalties for those businesses’ purported contributions to harms that those states allegedly
are experiencing from climate change. The New York law seeks $75 billion
from energy companies, while the Vermont law seeks an unspecified amount.

Today’s complaints allege that the New York Climate Change Superfund Act
and the Vermont Climate Superfund Act are preempted by the federal Clean
Air Act and by the federal foreign affairs power, and that they violate
the U.S. Constitution. The Justice Department seeks a declaration that
these state laws are unconstitutional and an injunction against their enforcement.

Complaints:

Hawaii
Michigan
New York
Vermont
Updated May 1, 2025

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-files-complaints- against-hawaii-michigan-new-york-and-vermont-over

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