Schneiderman challenges Trump on energy efficiency standard delay
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman will lead a coalition in legal action to try to prevent the president from rolling back energy efficiency standards.
Schneiderman announced on Monday that his office will lead a group of states and municipalities in a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s Department of Energy for delaying energy efficiency standards for consumer and commercial products, such as ceiling fans, portable air conditioners, commercial boilers and walk-in coolers and freezers.
The Trump administration’s plan to delay six federal efficiency standards violates both the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act and Administrative Procedures Act, according to Schneiderman.
The state Attorney General said the standards would combine to eliminate emissions of 292 million tons of greenhouse gases and provide net electricity savings to consumers and businesses of approximately $23.8 billion, citing Department of Energy estimates.
“This is yet another example of how the Trump administration”™s polluter-first energy policy has real and harmful impacts on the public health, environment ”“ and pocketbooks ”“ of New Yorkers,” Schneiderman said in a press release.
Joining Schneiderman in the coalition are the attorneys general from California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, along with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the City of New York.
The federal Department of Energy published new energy efficiency standards for ceiling fans as a final rule on Jan. 19. They were set to go in effect on March 20, but were delayed by the Trump administration until Sept. 30. Schneiderman said the delay is illegal, violating “anti-backsliding” provisions under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. The coalition has filed a lawsuit in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals against the Department of Energy. The groups asks the court to require the standards go into effect immediately.
The coalition also filed a 60-day notice with the Department of Energy of its intent to sue over delays of energy efficiency standards for compressors, power supply equipment, portable air conditioners, commercial boilers and walk-in coolers and freezers. Schneiderman said the Energy Department was required to publish final energy efficiency standards for compressors by Feb. 21 and for the other products by March 15. If the department fails to publish the five energy efficiency standards as final rules within 60 days, Schneiderman said the coalition will file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court asking the court to compel the Department of Energy to immediately publish the rules.
Schneiderman has been at odds with Trump since before president’s election. He helped force a $25 million settlement from Trump as part of class action and civil lawsuits against Trump University, a controversy that followed Trump throughout his campaign. He also joined challenges to Trump’s executive orders on immigration last month.
The attorney general also released public statements in March highlighting the “devastating impact” cuts to Environmental Protection Agency funding in Trump’s budget proposal could have in New York.
Trump signed an executive order on March 28 aimed at rolling back many of the environmental regulations set by President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan. Trump said the policies were killing jobs and called the executive order “the latest in a series of steps to create American jobs and to grow American wealth.”