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Chip Somodevilla\/Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This story was originally published b<\/em>y\u00a0Grist<\/a>\u00a0and is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk<\/a>\u00a0collaboration<\/em>.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump<\/span> continued dismantling US climate policy this week when he directed the Justice Department to challenge state laws aimed at addressing the crisis\u2014a campaign legal scholars called unconstitutional and climate activists said is sure to fail.\u00a0<\/p>\n The president, who has called climate change a \u201choax,\u201d issued an\u00a0executive order<\/a>\u00a0restricting state laws that he claimed have burdened fossil fuel companies and \u201cthreatened\u00a0American energy dominance<\/a>.\u201d His directive, signed Tuesday night, is the latest in a series of moves that have included\u00a0undermining federal climate<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0environmental justice programs<\/a>, withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, and promising to\u00a0expand oil and gas leases<\/a>.<\/p>\n It specifically mentions California, Vermont, and New York, three states that have been particularly assertive in pursuing climate action. The order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify and report state laws that focus on climate change or promote environmental, social, and governance initiatives, and to halt any that \u201cthe attorney general determines to be illegal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That directive almost certainly includes the climate superfund laws that\u00a0New York<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Vermont<\/a>\u00a0recently passed. The statutes require fossil fuel companies to pay damages for their emissions, a move the executive order deems \u201cextortion.\u201d The president\u2019s order also gives Bondi 60 days to prepare a report outlining state programs like carbon taxes and fees, along with those mentioning terms like \u201cenvironmental justice\u201d and \u201cgreenhouse gas emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese state laws and policies are fundamentally irreconcilable with my administration\u2019s objective to unleash American energy,\u201d the executive order reads. \u201cThey should not stand.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe only thing the Trump administration\u2019s actions accomplish is chaos and uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Legal scholars, environmental advocates, and at least one governor have said Trump\u2019s effort to roll back state legislation is unconstitutional, and court challenges are sure to follow. \u201cThe federal government cannot unilaterally strip states\u2019 independent constitutional authority,\u201d New York governor Kathy Hochul said in\u00a0a statement<\/a>\u00a0on behalf of the United States Climate Alliance, a coalition of 24 states working toward emissions reductions.<\/p>\n Although critics of the move said Trump is on\u00a0shaky legal ground<\/a>, forcing state and local governments to litigate can have a chilling effect on climate action. Beyond signaling the administration\u2019s allegiance to the fossil fuel interests that\u00a0helped bankroll his campaign<\/a>, Trump\u2019s order is \u201cseeking to intimidate,\u201d said Kathy Mulvey, the accountability campaign director for the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems pretty hypocritical for the party that claims to be about the rights of states to be taking on or seeking to prevent states from taking action,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The American Petroleum Institute praised the order,\u00a0saying<\/a>\u00a0it would \u201caddress this state overreach\u201d and \u201chelp restore the rule of law.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s order comes several weeks after fossil fuel executives\u00a0gathered<\/a>\u00a0at the White House to warn the president about increasing pressure from state lawsuits, including\u00a0moves to claim polluters are guilty of homicide<\/a>. Trump\u00a0told the executives he would take action<\/a>, according to E&E News<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis executive order parrots some of the arguments that we\u2019ve seen from companies like ExxonMobil, as they\u2019ve sought to have climate cases\u00a0removed from federal court<\/a>\u00a0and then\u00a0dismissed in the state courts<\/a>,\u201d Mulvey says.\u00a0<\/p>\n The president announced the move while standing in front of coal miners gathered for a White House ceremony during which he signed a separate\u00a0executive order<\/a>\u00a0supporting what he called the \u201cbeautiful, clean coal\u201d industry. That order removed air pollution limits and other regulations adopted by former president Joe Biden\u2019s administration. \u201cThe ceremony as a whole was mainly about theatrics and bullying,\u201d said Kit Kennedy, managing director of power, climate, and energy at Natural Resources Defense Council.<\/p>\n Experts say\u00a0economics makes<\/a>\u00a0a resurgence of coal unlikely. For the last two decades, the industry has steeply\u00a0declined<\/a>\u00a0as utilities have embraced gas and renewables like wind and solar, all of which are far cheaper. In California, which\u00a0banned utilities<\/a>\u00a0from buying power from coal-fired plants in other states in 2007 and established\u00a0a cap-and-trade program<\/a>\u00a0where power plants have to buy credits to pay for their pollution, emissions have fallen while the economy has grown. Such programs may be targeted by the president\u2019s recent executive orders.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt should be clear by now that the only thing the Trump administration\u2019s actions accomplish is chaos and uncertainty,\u201d Liane Randolph, who chairs the California Air Resources Board, said in a statement.<\/p>\n It remains unclear how the executive order will be implemented. \u201cThe executive branch doesn\u2019t actually have authority to throw out state laws,\u201d Mulvey said. States have a well-established primacy over environmental policies within their borders. The executive order would turn that on its head. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine a scenario in which the DOJ challenging the states on these policies would be successful,\u201d Kennedy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say the Trump administration can\u2019t take steps to fulfill the objectives outlined in the order. Even if the executive order doesn\u2019t overturn state laws directly, climate advocates worry the Trump administration will threaten to withhold federal funding for other programs, like highways, if they don\u2019t comply.<\/p>\n \u201cThe executive order itself has no legal impact, but the actions that government agencies will take in pursuit would, and many of those will be vigorously challenged in court,\u201d said Michael Gerrard, faculty director of Columbia University\u2019s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.<\/p>\n It was immediately clear that at least some states aren\u2019t going to back down. \u201cThis is the world the Trump administration wants your kids to live in,\u201d California governor Gavin Newsom\u00a0said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cCalifornia\u2019s efforts to cut harmful pollution won\u2019t be derailed by a glorified press release masquerading as an executive order.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n