California was one of President Donald Trump's largest foes during his first term; the state sued his administration over 120 times. Lawsuits from the Golden State impeded several of Trump's deregulatory moves, including attempts to curb regulations regarding methane emissions from landfills and fracking on federal lands.
Then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra also led a coalition of 22 states in challenging the Trump administration's final rule to modernize the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The first significant overhaul of the law in decades, the rule set hard page and time limits for completing an environmental review and was designed to streamline permitting in the United States. While the lawsuit did not reverse the rule, the NEPA modernization was ultimately rescinded when President Joe Biden took office.
With Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom calling on the state Legislature to create a $25 million reserve account for litigation, California is ready to play spoiler again. This could spell trouble for Trump's goals to increase oil and gas drilling on federal land, roll back Biden-era pollution controls at fossil fuel power plants, and reverse stringent greenhouse gas standards for vehicles.
