President Joe Biden was sued by 12 states over a climate change-related executive order, saying it has the potential to severely impact states economies. State attorneys general from Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah joined a lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.
Manufacturing, agriculture, and energy production are essential to Missouris economy and employ thousands of hard-working Missourians across the state. Under President Bidens executive order, which he didnt have the authority to enact, these hard-working Missourians who have lived and worked this land for generations could be left in the dust, Schmitt, a Republican, said in a statement on Monday.
The lawsuit is designed to challenge Bidens Executive Order 13990, titled Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis, and accuses the Biden administration of not having sufficient authority to issue binding numbers on the social costs of greenhouse gases in federal regulations.
From higher energy bills to lost jobs, this massive expansion of federal regulatory power has the potential to impact nearly every household in this statethats why today Im leading a coalition of states to put a stop to this executive order and protect Missouri families, said Schmitt.
The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House for comment.
The suit argues that Bidens order could inflict trillions of dollars of damage to the U.S. economy, while saying that the executive order threatens the Constitutions separation of powers doctrine.
In practice, this enormous figure will be used to justify an equally enormous expansion of federal regulatory power that will intrude into every aspect of Americans livesfrom their cars, to their refrigerators and homes, to their grocery and electric bills, the lawsuit (pdf) reads.
According to the White House, Bidens Jan. 20 order is designed to promote and protect our public health and the environment as well as conserve our national treasures and monuments.
Where the Federal Government has failed to meet that commitment in the past, it must advance environmental justice, the order said. In carrying out this charge, the federal government must be guided by the best science and be protected by processes that ensure the integrity of Federal decision-making.
The order directed all federal agencies and departments to review and take action to address the Trump administrations climate-related executive orders.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in federal court in the Eastern District of Missouri.