CVNM Statement on Trump Executive Order Restricting State Rules
President exerts spurious authority to eliminate state climate and environmental rules
[SANTA FE] – On April 8th, President Trump issued an unprecedented executive order declaring “all State [sic] and local laws” dealing with “‘climate change’ or involving ‘environmental, social, and governance’ initiatives, ‘environmental justice,’ carbon or ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions, and funds to collect carbon penalties or carbon taxes.” It instructs the US Attorney General to report back to the President within 60 days detailing actions taken under the EO and any additional Presidential or legislative action necessary to halt enforcement of any offending laws.
In a joint statement, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, co-chairs of the U.S. Climate Alliance, representing 22 states committed to reaching net-zero emissions, said:
“The federal government cannot unilaterally strip states’ independent constitutional authority. We are a nation of states – and laws – and we will not be deterred. We will keep advancing solutions to the climate crisis that safeguard Americans’ fundamental right to clean air and water, create good-paying jobs, grow the clean energy economy, and make our future healthier and safer.”
Groups like the US Climate Alliance and other state-based actions were the primary pathway for progress on climate in the absence of federal leadership during Trump’s first term. In the President’s second term, pro-climate Democrats hold more governorships than in 2017. New York and Vermont have enacted climate Superfund laws to recover the costs of climate impacts, like fires and flooding, from fossil fuel companies; other states are eyeing to replicate those examples. Eleven state attorneys general, along with dozens of tribal, county and city governments, have filed lawsuits charging the fossil fuel industry intentionally misled consumers about the dangers of burning fossil fuels.
In response to the EO, Conservation Voters New Mexico Chief Executive Officer Demis Foster issued the following statement:
“The executive order is another example of the chaos and bluster the President seeks to use to bully his opponents into backing down from whatever issue he and his fossil fuel allies dislike. The President has no authority to end state laws and the US Supreme Court has twice refused to intervene in the lawsuits brought against the fossil fuel companies. The American public, across partisan lines, overwhelmingly support environmental protections and government action on global warming, even when climate change is not at the top of issues they are extremely concerned with.
“Here in New Mexico, we applaud our state leaders for passing nation-leading methane emissions rules, which informed the Biden administration’s rules and which are already being met by a majority of oil and gas companies in the state. We just passed legislation giving the state the ability to develop a state-led water quality permit program for all surface waters in the state, after the US Supreme Court erroneously gutted the Clean Water Act. And we have just passed historic funding to support community resilience to the impacts of climate change and the state’s ability to develop and implement innovative ideas for climate mitigation after the irresponsible dismantling of the Federal Emergency Management Agency that will force states to bear the growing burden of extreme weather event response. We must build on this momentum and keep moving New Mexico forward, not backward.”
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CVNM is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization connecting the people of New Mexico to their political power to protect our air, land, and water for a healthy Land of Enchantment. CVNM does this by mobilizing voters, winning elections, holding elected officials accountable, and advancing responsible public policies.