"California’s climate pact with Quebec doesn’t interfere with U.S. authority to conduct foreign affairs, a federal court said Friday.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California tossed the Trump administration’s legal attack on the agreement, concluding the U.S. failed to show that California’s cap-and-trade program “substantially circumscribed or compromised” the president’s role in communicating with foreign governments.

The decision is a win for California, Quebec, and environmental advocates and states that support the carbon-trading scheme between the two jurisdictions. A victory for the U.S. could have spawned subsequent challenges to other U.S. carbon-cutting programs, including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative among mostly Northeast states.

The Justice Department launched its unusual legal challenge to the California-Quebec program last year, arguing that it tread on the federal government’s turf and violated the Constitution."

Ellen M. Gilmer reports for Bloomberg Environment July 17, 2020. [2]