California Governor Gavin Newsom, along with other U.S. state governors, pushed back against President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting state-level climate and clean energy regulations, which could include rules restricting high-GWP HFC emissions that contribute to climate change.
“California’s efforts to cut harmful pollution won’t be derailed by a glorified press release masquerading as an executive order,” said Newsom in a statement.
Titled “Protecting American Energy from State Overreach,” the executive order follows numerous moves by the Trump administration to roll back federal policies that curb carbon emissions. It directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify state laws “purporting to address ‘climate change’ or involving ‘environmental, social, and governance’ initiatives, ‘environmental justice,’ carbon or ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions, and funds to collect carbon penalties or carbon taxes.”
The order, issued on April 8, also authorizes Bondi to stop the enforcement of such state laws “that the Attorney General determines to be illegal.” Within 60 days of the date of the order, Bondi must submit a report to Trump regarding actions taken and recommend any additional presidential or legislative action necessary to stop the enforcement of these state laws.
The order criticizes California for “adopting impossible caps on the amount of carbon businesses may use, all but forcing businesses to pay large sums to ‘trade’ carbon credits to meet California’s radical requirements.”
Responding to the order, Liane Randolph, Chair of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), said, “It should be clear by now that the only thing the Trump administration’s actions accomplish is chaos and uncertainty, but one thing is for certain — California will stand our ground and fight to maintain our authority to reduce harmful pollution to the fullest extent possible.”
Added Randolph, “Since our first climate change scoping plan, we have used a portfolio approach that includes performance standards, incentives and carbon pricing. Emissions have gone down while economy has grown. We are committed to defending our record of success.”
The first Trump Administration challenged California’s cap-and-trade program’s linkage with a cap-and-trade program in Quebec. A federal district court rejected those arguments in 2020, and the litigation was later dismissed.
Ambitious state HFC regulations
As the most populous U.S. state with more than 39 million residents, California has an outsized impact on the U.S. economy, and its environmental regulations are often viewed as a standard for other states to emulate. In 2020 California finalized ambitious HFC regulations that limit many new applications to a 100-year GWP of 150. It updated the regulations in 2022.
Other states that have enacted aggressive regulations on HFC emissions include New York and Washington. New York has also passed a “Climate Superfund’ bill that requires fossil fuel companies to pay for infrastructure and other projects that protect communities from the effects of climate change. Trump’s April 8 executive order called this a “climate change extortion law.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul along with New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham – who are co-chairs of the U.S. Climate Alliance – also opposed Trump’s executive order. “The federal government cannot unilaterally strip states’ independent constitutional authority,” they said in a joint statement. “We are a nation of states — and laws — and we will not be deterred. We will keep advancing solutions to the climate crisis that safeguard Americans’ fundamental right to clean air and water, create good-paying jobs, grow the clean energy economy, and make our future healthier and safer.”
The U.S. Climate Alliance is a bipartisan coalition of 24 governors — representing nearly 55% of the U.S. population and 60% of the U.S. economy —committed to state-led climate action.
AIM Act targeted
The Trump administration is also targeting the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act, federal legislation enacted in 2020 to curb emissions of HFCs. Last month the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it would pursue “reconsideration” of the Technology Transitions rule, one of three pillars of the AIM Act. The EPA released the final version of the Technology Transitions rule in October 2023 to accelerate the ongoing transition to more efficient and climate-safe technologies in new refrigeration, heating and cooling systems and other products by restricting the use of HFCs where alternatives are already available.
In January, U.S. House Representative Neal Dunn, a Florida Republican, introduced a joint resolution to strike down the refrigerant management rule established by the AIM Act. It was followed by a comparable Senate resolution from Kansas Senator Roger Marshall, also a Republican.
“California’s efforts to cut harmful pollution won’t be derailed by a glorified press release masquerading as an executive order.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom
