PHOENIX – Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes joined 14 other state attorneys general on Friday in filing a lawsuit to block what she calls President Donald Trump’s “fake energy emergency” — an executive action she says is designed to enrich fossil fuel companies while bypassing key environmental protections.
The suit challenges Trump’s January 20 declaration of a “national energy emergency,” which invokes the National Emergencies Act to allow federal agencies to fast-track energy infrastructure projects. Under the order, agencies can sidestep environmental and public health reviews required by the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act.
Mayes and her counterparts argue that the emergency declaration is a misuse of executive authority and is being used as a political tool to roll back clean energy progress and environmental safeguards.
“This so-called emergency is nothing more than a political stunt designed to benefit fossil fuel companies at the expense of Arizonans’ health and safety,” Mayes said in a statement. “Arizona will not stand by while the federal government trashes environmental safeguards, endangers Tribal lands, and undermines clean energy in favor of outdated, polluting fuels.”
Despite record-high U.S. energy production, Mayes said the order would do nothing to increase supply and would instead inflate energy prices by promoting exports while weakening state and tribal oversight.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, names President Trump, the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. It seeks to have the court invalidate the executive order and block agencies from issuing emergency permits under its authority.
States joining Arizona in the suit include Washington, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
Mayes said the administration’s actions set a dangerous precedent by using emergency powers in the absence of an actual crisis and warned that it could permanently alter how public lands and waters are protected going forward.
