On February 18, 2026, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown co-led a coalition of 13 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit, challenging the Trump administration’s decision to terminate funding for congressionally mandated energy and infrastructure programs created by Congress via the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and other laws.  
 
On January 20, 2025, Trump issued executive orders declaring a purported “national energy emergency” and “Terminating the Green New Deal.” Pursuant to these directives, the Department of Energy (DOE) compiled a “hit list” of energy and infrastructure awards created under federal laws such as the IRA and IIJA and worth billions of dollars. The affected projects support state and local investments in modernizing electric grids, upgrading buildings to reduce energy use, and deploying new technologies in public transit, utilities, and port operations. The programs were expected to create thousands of good-paying jobs, improve air quality and public health, and provide more reliable and affordable electricity. In May 2025, DOE issued a policy memorandum asserting that it would subject projects to which it had previously awarded funding to a vague and opaque review process aimed at eliminating energy and infrastructure programs. As a government shutdown loomed in late September 2025, an administration official posted on X that DOE would be terminating nearly $8 billion in “Green New Scam” funding to fuel “the Left’s climate agenda.” The post listed 16 states led by Democratic officials where projects would be defunded. DOE announced the cuts the next day. 
 
The attorney general coalition alleges that the administration’s decision to eliminate energy programs is unlawful because it violates the separation of powers and the Administrative Procedure Act. The programs were created by congressional statute, and federal agencies have a duty to faithfully execute those statutes. The coalition urges the court to declare the Trump administration’s actions as unlawful and to permanently stop the administration from interfering with targeted energy and infrastructure programs. 

The President claims to seek ‘American Energy Dominance’ but, in California, his unlawful termination of over $1.2 billion in total funding for crucial clean energy projects means over 200,000 union job cuts, rising energy prices, and higher rates of pollution that wreak havoc on our health. 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.Attorney General Rob Bonta