States including CA and CO file lawsuit against Trump over energy funding

Democratic attorneys general from 13 states have lodged a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy over its decision to halt $2.7 billion in federal funding allocated for energy and infrastructure programs. This legal action was initiated on Wednesday, alleging that the departmental action breached the Constitution’s separation of powers, with Congress controlling financial matters.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California, argues that these programs had bipartisan support in Congress, and their termination violates the Constitution. Leading the charge in this lawsuit are the attorneys general from California, Colorado, and Washington state, with others from Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin joining them. Other defendants include Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and OMB Director Russell Vought.

In California, the decision led to the termination of $1.2 billion in federal funding for the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems and a further $4 million under the Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation program. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, during a virtual news conference, stated, “The president doesn’t just get to cancel them because he disagrees with them.”

The lawsuit cites President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Unleashing American Energy”, issued on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2025. The order argues that “burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations” have hindered energy and natural resources development, leading to increased costs in several sectors, including energy, transportation, heating, utilities, farming, and manufacturing.

The lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of overstepping its bounds by cancelling programs established under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Both the Department of Energy and the Office of Management and Budget have faced allegations of terminating these programs. According to the lawsuit, the Department provided a list of DOE-funded energy and infrastructure projects it planned to eliminate in March and expanded that list in October.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser claimed that the Trump administration was engaging in its own scam by withholding funds that Congress had allocated to the states. He argued, “Federal funding can’t be terminated to punish states or score political points.” Bonta supported this stance, asserting that the termination of federal funds could jeopardize more than 200,000 union jobs in California and lead to increased energy prices.

Bonta and Weiser also questioned the fairness of the administration’s actions, accusing it of allowing grants in red states while cancelling them in blue states. In response to questions about their lawsuits against the Trump administration, both Bonta and Weiser justified their legal actions as providing significant returns for their states. Bonta stated that for every dollar spent on suing Trump, California has gained nearly $10,000 in return.

Up to now, California has lodged its 58th lawsuit against President Donald Trump since he commenced his second term in January 2025, with Colorado not far behind at 54 lawsuits during the same period. Bonta has revealed that California filed 120 lawsuits against Trump during his first term and is on track to double that number during his second term. He contrasted this with previous administrations when California filed few, if any lawsuits against the federal government.