Minnesota files suit challenging federal “energy emergency” executive order and illegal efforts to truncate federal and state permitting

May 9, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed suit today, alongside 14 other attorneys general, to challenge the President’s first day executive order declaring a “national energy emergency” under the National Emergencies Act.  Pursuant to the declaration, federal agencies are improperly truncating legally required environmental review and permitting processes and failing to fulfill legally required consultation processes with state and local governments. 

Properly used, the National Emergencies Act allows the federal government to respond to true emergencies like hurricanes and tornadoes.  It was also passed to prevent Presidents from declaring national emergencies for frivolous or partisan matters — exactly what the president has done here. Until now federal agencies have only used emergency procedures during actual emergencies such as hurricanes and catastrophic oil spills — for example, the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, where lives were at risk. Now agencies are acting under emergency procedures only due to the president’s order.

At the direction of the president, federal agencies are bypassing or shortening critical reviews under the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and the Historic National Preservation Act for energy projects. These laws play a critical role protecting the environment and human health and protecting our heritage and places sacred to tribes in Washington.

The declaration is also unfounded.  U.S. energy production is at an all-time high.

The only “emergency” is that the president disagrees with policies to address climate change in Minnesota and elsewhere. He is illegally using emergency authorities to keep the nation reliant on energy sources like coal, oil, and gas. The order excludes wind, solar, and batteries — among the cheapest and cleanest modern energy sources that exist today. The end goal is clear: eliminate the competition for climate-harming greenhouse gas emitters.

“Once again, President Trump has unlawfully exceeded his authority, this time by fabricating a national emergency to bypass laws he disagrees with,” said Attorney General Keith Ellison. “The National Emergencies Act is an important piece of legislation that allows the federal government to more quickly respond to true emergencies like floods, tornados, and wildfires. I will not allow Donald Trump to use National Emergencies Act as a pretext to ignore environmental protections enacted by Congress.”

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, names as defendants President Donald Trump, as well as the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Both agencies have taken illegal action to implement the president’s directive.

The attorneys general ask the court to declare the president’s directive, and the agencies’ implementation of it, illegal and stop them from issuing emergency permits under the executive order. 

Joining Attorney General Ellison in filing this lawsuit are Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who led it, and the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.