WASHINGTON — California Democrats say an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to limit the right of states to enact laws combating climate change is an attack on the Golden State.

The order, which Trump signed before members of the coal industry, directs the Justice Department to pursue investigations into state policies that seek to reduce the use of fossil fuels in an attempt to tackle climate change. 

It claims that “an affordable and reliable domestic energy supply is essential to the national and economic security” of the U.S., and that California’s “radical” climate goals are putting that goal at risk.


What You Need To Know

  • Earlier this month, Trump signed before members of the coal industry, directs the Justice Department to pursue investigations into state policies that seek to reduce the use of fossil fuels in an attempt to tackle climate change

  • California Democrats have criticized the order and the Trump administration’s efforts to promote coal and fossil fuels over cleaner energy sources such as wind and solar

  • Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School, said it's very much a wait and see game as to what comes next

  • A spokesperson for the California Department of Justice told Spectrum News that "the California Department of Justice remains committed to using the full force of the law and tools of this office to address climate and other environmental harms head-on and protect the public health and welfare. We won’t be able to comment on legal strategy"

California Democrats have criticized the order and the Trump administration’s efforts to promote coal and fossil fuels over cleaner energy sources such as wind and solar.

“Coal is not an economic source of energy in the United States anyway, anymore. We need to move on, and I think we should,” argued Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif.

“It's also tremendously toxic, not just to the climate, but from the metals that it emits from burning. And I think we should move in a different direction, and we certainly can. I mean, you don't hear Texans talking about coal. They talk about the natural gas shale revolution.”

Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., said the president “clearly has a vendetta against solar and wind,” which California has invested heavily in. As of 2022, 61% of retail electric sales in California came from non-fossil-fuel sources, according to the state’s energy commission

“I'm proud of those investments, and, to an extent, it does seem like we're getting penalized for them. But we made those investments by necessity,” said Levin. “I grew up in LA, and I remember the days of the smog alerts all the time, and we don't have those the same way anymore because we invested in clean and sustainable forms of electricity.”

Climate and environmental issues were not always partisan fodder. 

It was President Richard Nixon, a Republican from California, who created the Environmental Protection Agency. Acid rain was tackled under then-Republican Governor Ronald Reagan, and Republican President George H.W. Bush signed into law what became known as “cap-and-trade” to reduce sulfur pollution and prevent acid rain. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., was governor when the state passed the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which Levin called “the most ambitious climate law that nay state has ever devised.”

“To see this so politicized is incredibly disappointing, because clean air doesn’t discriminate, clean water doesn’t discriminate,” said Levin. “Ultimately, we want a livable state and a livable planet for everybody.

The executive order only directs the Department of Justice to investigate and report its findings back to the president by June 7, meaning there is little for California to do in the meantime.

“At this point, I don’t know that there’s much for California to do other than say we don’t agree, we think this executive order is essentially toothless and we don’t think it will be upheld in the courts,” said Jessica Levinson, professor at the Loyola Law School.

Levinson said she sees California’s lengthy history of passing laws to protect the environment as a benefit if the state winds up taking the administration to court over the matter.

“The fact that California has had environmental laws that have been enforced on the books for decades will help California's potential future argument that, in fact, the state absolutely has the power to pass these laws, and they don't pose any sort of conflict with federal law or the federal constitution,” she explained.

Peters says he thinks this is just a signal of what is to come for California under the Trump administration.

“They're out for California in a lot of ways. Our car standards, our clean energy policies. I mean, that's sort of the agenda of this administration,” he said with a shrug.

Spectrum News reached out to the California Attorney General’s office for comment on the executive order.

A spokesperson for the California Department of Justice told Spectrum News in a statement that “the Trump Administration continues to attempt to gut federal environmental protections and put the country at risk of falling further behind in our fight against climate change and environmental harm. The California Department of Justice remains committed to using the full force of the law and tools of this office to address climate and other environmental harms head-on and protect the public health and welfare. We won’t be able to comment on legal strategy.”