The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to spike a lawsuit that challenges New York’s “Climate Change Superfund Act.
The law could imposes $75 billion in liability on foreign and domestic energy companies for their alleged past contributions to climate change, according to a filing from the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
The complaint was filed in May, along with a complaint against the State of Vermont for its similar statute, to advance President Donald J. Trump’s executive order to protect American energy from state overreach.
“New York has declared war on those responsible for supplying our Nation with reliable and affordable energy, and it is trampling over federal law in the process.” Further, the motion says, “the Court should end New York’s lawless overreach by granting the United States’ motion for summary judgment, declaring the Superfund Act invalid and unenforceable, and permanently enjoining Defendants from taking any actions to implement or enforce it.”
The DOJ also sued Michigan in May. Last year, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel had announced the state would sue oil companies for allegedly contributing to climate change.
The filing asked courts to stop impose "crippling" penalties on the the world’s largest energy providers, said Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of ENRD.
“Individual states have no authority to regulate nationwide and global greenhouse gas emissions. The courts must put a stop to New York’s brazen disregard of federal law, the Constitution, and binding precedent, not to mention our Nation’s energy needs.”
Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel John Adams and Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General Riley Walters of ENRD filed the motion.
The Trump administration’s U.S. Department of Agriculture has stopped funding solar panels on prime farm land. Instead, it’s boosting energy production via fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
For example, the federal government gave a $1.5 billion loan to reactivate the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, which could be the first decommissioned nuclear plant to be reactivated.
The Department of Energy posted on X.
"HISTORY MADE: America is bringing nuclear power plants BACK TO LIFE.
The Palisades will unleash 837 MW of 24/7, around the clock power—enough to fuel nearly 1 MILLION homes.
Call it what it is: ENERGY DOMINANCE."
🇺🇸HISTORY MADE: America is bringing nuclear power plants BACK TO LIFE.
— U.S. Department of Energy (@ENERGY) August 29, 2025
The Palisades will unleash 837 MW of 24/7, around the clock power—enough to fuel nearly 1 MILLION homes.
Call it what it is: ENERGY DOMINANCE.
The move follows states trying to reduce energy production through net-zero emissions goals.
Renewables provided 11% of Michigan's electricity net generation in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Of that 11%, wind energy providing more than half of that power.
The problem with wind and solar technology is that it only produces energy when the wind blows and the sun shines. But hospitals, grocery stores, and factories require constant energy.
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