Illinois' Raoul, other attorneys general add U.S. Department of the Interior to lawsuit over Trump admin. energy policy

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul was among several state attorneys general who filed an amended complaint last week in an ongoing legal challenge against the Trump administration's "National Energy Emergency."

Raoul's office said the executive order by the Trump administration "short-cuts critical environmental protections to benefit fossil fuel production by claiming emergency conditions, despite U.S. energy production being at an all-time high."

The amended complaint, filed last week and announced Monday, adds the U.S Department of the Interior as a defendant, accusing the department of illegally bypassing requirements in the National Environmental Protection Act and Endangered Species Act when permitting fossil fuel projects.

Such energy sources as wind, solar, and batteries are not being given the same preferential treatment, the attorneys general said.

 "This is the Trump administration's latest attempt to invent an emergency in order to further policy preferences," Raoul said in a news release. "This executive order would allow important environmental protections to be bypassed while doing nothing to lower energy prices. I am happy to join my fellow attorneys general in this lawsuit."

Raoul and other attorneys general filed the lawsuit challenging the executive order in May, along with actions taken pursuant to the executive order by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The attorneys general claimed President Trump invoked a "national energy emergency" even after energy production in the U.S. hit an all-time high under President Biden.

Joining Raoul in the lawsuit are attorneys general of California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington State, and Wisconsin.

In December, Raoul and another coalition of attorneys general won a separate lawsuit filed against the Trump administration over an order to freeze all federal permitting of wind power projects.

President Trump issued a memorandum on his first day back in office last year that indefinitely halted all federal approvals needed to develop wind energy products.

Raoul and the other attorneys general claimed such an action was unlawful, specifically violating the Administrative Procedure Act and other federal laws. This was in part because the Trump administration did not provide "a reasoned explanation for categorically and indefinitely halting all wind energy development," Raoul's office said in a May 2025 news release.

Also in December, the Trump administration froze five big offshore wind projects on the East Coast, citing national security concerns. But following legal action, court rulings allowed work to continue on all five — most recently Sunrise Wind to proceed off Long Island's Montauk Point in New York, which was given the green light to resume construction on Monday.

Sunrise Wind said it would resume work as soon as possible. The offshore wind farm is about 45% complete and expected to be operational in 2027.

President Trump has said his goal is to not let any "windmills" be built, and often talks about his hatred of wind power.