Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, joined by a coalition of state attorneys general, today sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources urging support for S.J. Res. 10, which seeks to terminate the national energy emergency declared by President Donald Trump under Executive Order 14156.
In the letter, Attorney General Brown criticized the energy emergency declaration, calling it a distortion of facts aimed at furthering a political agenda. He stated, “In declaring an energy emergency, the president distorted the facts about America’s energy landscape… to serve his political agenda.” Brown emphasized that the declaration locks the country into fossil fuel dependency, undermining efforts to transition toward more sustainable energy sources like wind and solar power.
“Declaring a national energy emergency when America’s energy production is at an all-time high ignores the facts and jeopardizes our efforts to build a clean, reliable, and affordable energy future,” said Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. “I urge Congress to reject this baseless emergency declaration and instead focus on policies that promote a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future for all Americans.”
The attorneys general assert that there is no current energy emergency in the U.S., highlighting that the country’s energy production is at an all-time high, with both crude oil and natural gas outputs setting records. Furthermore, the U.S. has been a net energy exporter since 2019. The letter also pointed out that the nation’s electricity grid remains resilient, with renewable energy playing a crucial role in maintaining affordability and reliability.
The attorneys general argue that extreme weather, fueled by climate change, is the greatest threat to the energy grid, not a shortage of fossil fuels. “Burning fossil fuels only increases the instances of severe extreme weather that damages our Nation’s infrastructure and threatens human life,” the letter reads. It warns that continuing to rely on fossil fuels, rather than embracing renewable energy, puts the country at greater risk and hinders progress towards building a more resilient, modern energy system.
Read the full letter here
The letter highlights the vast potential of renewable energy in the U.S., citing the Department of Energy’s estimate that the country has enough renewable energy capacity to meet 100 times its annual nationwide energy demand. The attorneys general urged the Senate to approve S.J. Res. 10, asserting that the emergency declaration is unsupported by evidence and, if left unchecked, could lead to deregulation that would harm the nation’s energy security and affordability.
Just after inauguration, President Trump declared a “national energy emergency” along with other emergencies, granting himself expansive powers. While he claimed this allowed him to take any necessary action, emergency declarations do not provide unlimited authority. During his first term, Trump tested these powers by using an emergency declaration to fund his border wall, sparking legal challenges over spending authority. By the time President Biden took office, Biden reversed Trump’s border emergency. Now, in his second term, Trump is pursuing more ambitious emergency declarations, including those related to energy, cartels, and the southern border, which could have wide-ranging impacts on people, businesses, and the economy, with minimal oversight.
