Washington sets the agenda for American energy dominance but the states are on the front lines. West Virginia is proving it, taking on the kind of state overreach President Trump vowed to end.
In September, West Virginia’s Attorney General JB McCuskey sued Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission (PA PUC) over its renewable energy mandates that have sent electricity prices soaring. The Mountain State wants protectionist portions of Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (“AEPS”) declared unconstitutional violations of the Commerce Clause, which would provide immediate relief from surging power bills in both states.
Since Harrisburg enacted the “Closing Tier II Border” bill in 2020, AEPS compliance costs have skyrocketed from $122.5 million to $700 million in 2025. Retail rates for Pennsylvania residents have risen roughly 60 percent over the same period, largely driven by soaring AEPS costs and regional supply scarcity due to similar policies in neighboring states. Rather than reconsidering the fundamental flaws of Renewable Portfolio Standard mandates, Pennsylvania’s Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro is pushing legislation that would further expand AEPS targets to align more with those found in deep blue states like Massachusetts and Maryland. As those states have demonstrated this move would only further increase costs for consumers with no additional benefit.
West Virginia’s lawsuit illuminates exactly why these rules are unconstitutional.
West Virginia and Pennsylvania both belong to PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator that moves power across 13 states and the District of Columbia. As the complaint highlights, PJM was created as a “direct result of federal policy mandating non-discriminatory access.”
Erecting barriers to interstate power markets by tipping the scales to in-state generators – as Pennsylvania did by “closing the borders” – contradicts the law and policy structure aimed at maximizing competition that enables reliable and affordable electricity for all Americans. And they weren’t subtle about it – legislators in Harrisburg explicitly said the “close the borders” bills intended to protect in-state industries benefiting from these credits – particularly solar and waste coal. Not only did that illegally shut out generators in other PJM states, but Pennsylvania also imposed steep costs on ratepayers, who bore the costs of artificially inflated renewable energy credits. These rules, “enriched a handful of existing Pennsylvania generators at the expense of every ratepayer in the Commonwealth,” as West Virginia’s complaint put it.
Even the defendant in the lawsuit, the PA PUC, found that the compliance cost increases due to closing the borders were “meteoric” in scale. The jump in price is so astronomical that even the state can’t deny it. They also can’t justify it. What are Pennsylvanians getting for the increased prices? Nothing.
The costs of these market impediments – both the mandates and the added in-state rules – are substantial. As Energy Secretary Chris Wright pointed out at New York’s Climate Week, “Half of the states have Renewable Portfolio Standards. Half of them don’t. 45 percent more expensive electricity in the states that have them.”
These unlawful and costly closed border restrictions aren’t unique to Pennsylvania. Energy analyst Isaac Orr’s recent research demonstrates that other PJM states like New Jersey, Maryland and the District of Columbia have seen electricity prices escalate due to these in-state restrictions. Orr found that RPS requirements “added approximately $298 per electricity customer in New Jersey, $227 in Maryland, $125 in Pennsylvania, and nearly $775 per customer in Washington, D.C.” in recent years. These states should find themselves facing the same lawsuits as Pennsylvania since the closed border rules there similarly raise costs on consumers and violate federal interstate commerce laws.
In addition, West Virginia’s lawsuit is low-hanging fruit for President Trump’s Department of Justice. DOJ has an opportunity to intervene in this case and support interstate competition, which would drastically lower energy prices for Americans, starting with Pennsylvania. A DOJ intervention would go a long way toward easing financial burdens on Americans. Who doesn’t want lower energy costs?
In April 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order – Protecting American Energy From State Overreach – for the purpose of “unleashing American energy,” “removal of all illegitimate impediments…of domestic energy sources,” and “ensuring an affordable and reliable domestic energy supply.” The order expressly states:
“American energy dominance is threatened when State and local governments seek to regulate energy beyond their constitutional or statutory authorities. For example, when States target or discriminate against out-of-State energy producers by imposing significant barriers to interstate and international trade, American energy suffers, and the equality of each State enshrined by the Constitution is undermined.”
President Trump and his energy secretary are already on record in support of the type of action taken by West Virginia to increase competition and lower energy costs. Now, the Administration needs to join the Mountain State and help eliminate closed-border requirements that stifle competition and send electricity prices soaring.
Americans are getting crushed by increasing prices in nearly every industry, and energy is a pain point they feel every day. This one is a no-brainer. West Virginia has already done the heavy lifting and filed the lawsuit. DOJ just needs to add its weight to ensure that the American government is truly serving Americans’ needs, and in doing so, fulfill President Trump’s campaign promise of lowering energy prices and truly protecting American energy against unlawful state overreach.
Christina Bobb is an attorney and former official with the Trump post-2020 and 2024 campaigns and the Republican National Committee.