Trump DOJ Sues Minnesota to Block State Climate Action, Defends Big Oil Over Public Health

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is doubling down on its war against climate action by suing Minnesota over the state’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. This legal attack comes in the wake of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding, a critical scientific and legal foundation that recognized greenhouse gases as a serious threat to public health.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who had joined a coalition of nearly 40 states and local governments in suing the federal government to block the repeal, now finds himself targeted by the DOJ for continuing to hold Big Oil accountable. The DOJ’s lawsuit accuses Minnesota of “usurping exclusive federal authorities” and imposing “woke climate preferences” that supposedly burden domestic energy development.

In a statement, Stanley Woodward, a Trump associate attorney general, made clear that the administration’s priority is to “unleash American energy dominance” — a thinly veiled code for protecting fossil fuel profits regardless of environmental destruction or public health costs. Woodward dismissed Minnesota’s climate efforts as an illegitimate attempt to make state policies the “uniform policy of our Nation.”

Ellison fired back, condemning the DOJ’s suit as “frivolous and meritless” and an effort to “sell us out to Big Oil.” He reminded the public that Minnesota has been fighting Big Oil’s decades-long deception about climate change since 2020, only to face endless procedural delays engineered by the fossil fuel industry to avoid accountability.

The 2009 Endangerment Finding was grounded in a 2007 Supreme Court decision affirming the EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases. It identified carbon dioxide, methane, and other pollutants as major threats to public health and the environment. Since then, EPA regulations have led to cleaner vehicles and projected trillions in savings from avoided health costs and fuel efficiency.

Yet the Trump administration, led by EPA chief Lee Zeldin, has aggressively rolled back these protections, touting the repeal as the “single largest deregulatory action in American history.” Climate experts have denounced this move as “criminal negligence” and a betrayal of the agency’s mission to safeguard the public from the escalating climate crisis.

Legal experts expect these battles over the Endangerment Finding and state climate initiatives to drag on for years, potentially reaching the Supreme Court, which now has a more conservative bench less inclined to uphold environmental regulations.

Meanwhile, Minnesota and other states remain on the front lines, fighting to protect their communities from the devastating impacts of climate change and to hold polluters accountable. The Trump DOJ’s lawsuit is not just a legal challenge — it is a direct assault on democratic governance and the urgent need for climate action. We will be watching closely as this fight unfolds.