A coalition of 15 states is demanding the efforts of President Donald Trump to accelerate energy -related projects, saying that the Administration is avoiding the laws of protection of the environment and threatening endangered species, critical habitat and cultural resources.
Trump issued a Executive order declaring a “national energy emergency “The first day of its presidency. The order urges the expansion of oil and gas through the federal use of eminent domain and the Defense Production Law, which allows the Government to use private land and resources to produce goods considered a national need.
It is assumed that these types of steps are reserved for real emergencies, such as the necessary projects such as hurricanes, floods or important oil spills, general prosecutors wrote in the demand presented in the state of Washington on Friday.
But now, the State Attorney General of Washington, Nick Brown, and the other plaintiffs said agencies such as the US Army Engineers. UU. And the Department of the Interior are avoiding the revisions required under federal laws such as the Clean Water Law and the Law of Endangered Species.
General prosecutors said that reliable and affordable electricity is of critical importance for the nation, but pointed out that American energy production is already at its highest point.
“The executive order is illegal, and its commands that federal agencies ignore the law and, in many cases, their own regulations to accelerate the extensive categories of activities will give damage to the waters, wetlands, critical habitat, historical and cultural resources, endangered species and people and wildlife that depend on these precious resources,” they wrote in the demand.
“Inherent shortcuts through emergency processes fundamentally undermine the rights of states,” said general prosecutors, noting that the Federal Clean Water Law subsidizes establishes the right to protect water quality within their own borders.
They want a federal judge to declare the executive order illegal and come from the agencies to pursue emergency permit For projects that are not emergency.
The White House was not immediately available to comment.
Brown and California attorney general, Rob Bonta, lead the lawsuit, and Arizona’s general prosecutors, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin have signed.
