"DETROIT — The U.S. Justice Department filed lawsuits against four states this week, claiming their climate actions conflict with federal authority and President Donald Trump’s energy dominance agenda.

The DOJ on Wednesday filed lawsuits against Hawaii and Michigan over their plans for legal action against fossil fuel companies for harms caused by climate change. On Thursday, the DOJ sued New York and Vermont, challenging their climate superfund laws that would force fossil fuel companies to pay into state-based funds based on previous greenhouse gas emissions.

“These burdensome and ideologically motivated laws and lawsuits threaten American energy independence and our country’s economic and national security,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “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.”

The DOJ lawsuits, which legal experts say are unprecedented, mark the latest of the Trump administration’s attacks on environmental work and raises concern over states’ abilities to retain the power to take climate action without federal opposition."

Alexa St. John reports for the Associated Press May 1, 2025. [2]