If Trump kills Clean Power Plan, legal action ensues, warn 15 states

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is leading the 15 state coalition that threatens legal action should Trump axe the Plan. Source: Flickr/Azi Paybarah

If Trump goes ahead with his threat to scrap the Clean Power Plan, legal action will ensue, according to 15 state attorney generals who penned a letter to the President-elect.

Signed by legal advisers for California, New York, Hawaii, Washington and others, the letter sent on Thursday warns that the coalition of 15 climate conscious states will go to court if Trump makes good on his promise and cancels the Plan.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The Clean Power Plan, which was unveiled under Barack Obama in August 2015, envisioned a 32% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, from 2005 levels. Its path has been rocky, with the Supreme Court freezing the initiative since February 2016 due to the contentious backlash from fossil fuel companies in several states. An appeal hearing was held in Washington in September, with the verdict likely to be reached early this year.

After Trump vowed to cut all federal spending on climate initiatives, a 24-state coalition soon responded to this with a letter urging the president-elect to withdraw the Plan immediately with a “day one” executive order, prohibiting the EPA from enforcing it.

But now New York Attorney General Eric Scheiderman, together with 14 other states, has promised litigation should Trump take such action.

“Our states and local governments are on the front lines of climate change. We see firsthand the significant human and economic costs inflicted by unchecked carbon pollution,” the letter opens, before citing a range of climate impacts from drought to high tide flooding.

The letter argues that preventing the EPA from enforcing the CPP and other similar measures are “contrary to law” and ends with a warning to Trump should he axe what was dubbed a “blueprint for the critical action needed to fight climate change’s devastating” effects.

“In summary, we advocate that you reject misguided advice that the Clean Power Plan be discarded; advice that, if followed, would assuredly lead to more litigation. Instead, we urge you to support the defence of this critically-important rule and the implementation of its carefully-constructed strategies to reduce emissions from the nation’s largest sources.”

Although Trump had pledged to keep an “open mind” on climate change, Trump has reduced the global phenomenon as a “hoax” and appointed several climate sceptics to his cabinet.

Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson was recently appointed Secretary of State, with Scott Pruitt heading the EPA and Rick Perry as Energy Secretary. 

However, outgoing EPA administrator Gina McCarthy declared that the nation's progress in climate change and clean energy would be just fine without the Clean Power Plan, noting that 24 states already had lower emissions in 2015 than required by 2022 under the plan.

7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

June 30, 2025
Heliene has completed the sale of Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credits in association with Minnesota-based U.S. Bank.
June 30, 2025
Voting on the US tax reconciliation bill is expected to begin in the Senate today, following a draft published on Friday that hit clean energy tax credits hard.
June 30, 2025
US clean energy developer Clearway Energy Group has received corporate credit facilities over US$1 billion.
June 26, 2025
A round-up of news from the US solar sector this week, including Akuo, Meta and RWE.
June 26, 2025
A group of minority shareholders in Norwegian silicon firm REC Silicon has triggered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the closure of the company’s US polysilicon production site.
June 26, 2025
Adapture Renewables and Meta have signed two EAPAs that will see the latter acquire power from a 360MW Texas solar portfolio.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico