A coalition of 13 U.S. states led by California announced Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit against the administration of Donald Trump over the cancellation of more than $1.2 billion in funding for clean energy initiatives.
In a statement, California Governor, Gavin Newsom, criticized the move, accusing the president of undermining congressional authority and economic progress.
“We will not allow (President Donald) Trump to sell out our future to his biggest donors. Trump didn’t just tear up a contract: he defied Congress, jeopardized more than 200,000 good-paying jobs, and robbed billions of dollars in health savings from communities that have been hit the hardest by pollution,” Newsom said.
“We’re not letting that stand. California will fight for these jobs, this infrastructure, and the global clean energy competitiveness that the Trump administration has ceded to China,” he added.
The funding had been approved by Congress under former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support energy and infrastructure projects.
The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California, claims the administration unlawfully terminated $1.2 billion designated for a public-private clean hydrogen initiative using electrolysis. It also alleges that an additional $4 million intended for improving energy efficiency in existing buildings was halted.
According to the complaint, the cancellations form part of a broader pattern targeting clean energy programs in Democratic-led states.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the administration’s actions were politically motivated.
“The President is cherry-picking this funding at the expense of hardworking Americans and stifling innovation and the economy for the sake of partisan retribution. My office will continue to hold the President and his administration accountable for breaking the law,” Bonta said.
Attorneys general from Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin have joined the suit.
The legal filing also references actions taken during last year’s budget standoff, which resulted in the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. It notes that shortly after President Trump warned he would “do things during the shutdown that are irreversible,” Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought posted on X that “Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled.”
Vought reportedly identified programs in 16 Democratic-governed states as targets for funding cuts.
“In early October, as the Administration sought a cudgel to wield in budget negotiations, Defendants deployed this unlawful policy as an opportunistic way to hurt the Administration’s political enemies and those associated with them,” the suit says.
“In our constitutional system, only Congress has the power to appropriate funding, and to define if and how federal programs are administered. It is the President’s duty, after that legislation is signed by the Executive, to execute those laws. He has no power to undo them, whether piecemeal or in their entirety,” it adds.
Responding to the lawsuit, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said the administration is confident in its legal position.
“Left-wing politicians in Blue states are still doubling down on Joe Biden’s failed and costly Green New Scam policies that have driven up energy prices, hurting families and businesses. Meanwhile, President Trump has cancelled unpopular green energy subsidies that wasted Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars and is unleashing American energy,” she said in a statement.
