Washington, D.C.—Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), issued the following statement about President Trump’s latest Executive Order, “Protecting American Energy from State Overreach,” which is aimed at prohibiting state and local governments from enacting laws and regulations to protect the environment and their citizens:

“Trump’s orders are a lawless assault on every state’s ability to protect the health and well-being of its own citizens.  Not only does this latest Big Oil fever dream violate state sovereignty, it tries to void decades of state-enacted policies that lower energy costs for families, protect clean air and water, reduce the carbon pollution responsible for climate change, and protect Americans from the price shocks of dependence on fossil fuels.  Mere weeks after the Big Oil executives who bankrolled Trump’s campaign asked him to kill exactly these kinds of policies, Trump is rewarding his fossil fuel overlords by putting his corrupt Department of Justice into their service.”