Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, alongside a group of state attorneys general, has called on the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to fully support and consider passing S.J. Res. 10, a resolution aimed at terminating the national energy emergency initiated by President Trump through Executive Order 14156.
Brown criticized the original declaration, stating, “In declaring an energy emergency, the president distorted the facts about America’s energy landscape to serve his political agenda, committing our country to reliance on fossil fuels, which jeopardize community health and hinder progress toward a sustainable energy future.”
The attorneys general refuted the existence of an energy emergency in their letter, noting that American energy production is at its peak, with the U.S. being a net energy exporter since 2019. They emphasized the strength and resilience of the current energy system, which includes significant contributions from renewable sources like solar and wind power. According to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, they asserted, the main risk to grid reliability is extreme weather caused by climate change—not energy underproduction.
The group highlighted that extreme weather poses the most significant threat to America’s energy grid, and continued reliance on fossil fuels exacerbates these weather events, thereby threatening infrastructure and human life. They argued that the declared emergency undermines efforts to develop a resilient, modern energy system by discouraging diversification in energy sources, particularly renewables.
They pointed to the vast potential for renewable energy, with the Department of Energy estimating that the U.S. has enough renewable resources to meet the nation’s energy demand a hundredfold over.
The attorneys general concluded by urging the Senate Committee to approve S.J. Res. 10, stating that the emergency declaration is unsupported by evidence and that perpetuating it could make the nation’s energy and electricity supply less reliable and more expensive.
