Not satisfied with gutting federal laws, Trump turns towards states
By 
Aaron Nicodemus2025-05-06T11:30:00
In support of President Donald Trump’s deregulation agenda, U.S. Department of Justice sued four states in its ongoing attempt to derail state efforts to force energy companies to pay for damage they caused to the environment.
In his first 100 days in office, Trump has attempted to defang or roll back compliance-related federal laws and regulations on anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, climate disclosure, banking, consumer protection, workplace safety and more.
In the latest deregulation effort, the DOJ sued New York and Vermont in federal courts Wednesday, claiming that the two states’ attempts to get polluters to pay for previous greenhouse gas emissions are a “transparent monetary-extraction scheme.” Then Thursday, the DOJ sued Hawaii and Michigan in an attempt to circumvent lawsuits the states filed against energy companies, seeking compensation for their harmful emissions.
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