In a dramatic escalation of tensions between federal and state governments over energy and climate policy, the Department of Justice has launched an unprecedented legal offensive against four states. The federal lawsuits, filed last week against Hawaii, Michigan, New York, and Vermont, represent one of the most aggressive assertions of federal authority over state-level environmental initiatives in recent memory and signal the federal government’s determination to protect fossil fuel interests from what it characterizes as overreaching state regulation.

“These burdensome and ideologically motivated laws and lawsuits threaten American energy independence and our country’s economic and national security,” declared the Attorney General in the DOJ’s announcement. The statement emphasized that the department is working to “unleash American energy” by eliminating what it describes as “illegitimate impediments to the production of affordable, reliable energy that Americans deserve.”

The Legal Battleground: Four States in the Crosshairs