Attorney General Phil Weiser sues President Trump, Interior Secretary Burgum over made-up 'energy emergency'

Attorney General Phil Weiser sues President Trump, Interior Secretary Burgum over made-up "energy emergency"

Feb. 2, 2026 (DENVER) - Attorney General Phil Weiser has joined an ongoing multistate lawsuit challenging President Trump's "energy emergency" executive order signed on Inauguration Day invoking the National Emergencies Act. In implementing the executive order, federal agencies are bypassing or shortening critical environmental reviews to fast-track approval of fossil fuel projects, including a facility that will significantly increase oil traffic along the Colorado River and other critical waterways in the state.

"Congress passed the National Emergencies Act to prevent presidents from declaring national emergencies for pointless or partisan purposes - exactly what the president has done with this executive order. Energy production is at an all-time high. The only energy emergency is the one that is the president's head," Attorney General Weiser said. "Derailments, spills, or other accidents from oil trains traveling on rail lines next to our rivers pose a serious risk to the millions of people, businesses, and farms that depend on these critical sources of water. We are challenging this made-up emergency to protect our communities and our land, air, and water in Colorado."

Typically, federal agencies have only used emergency procedures during actual emergencies such as hurricanes and catastrophic oil spills where lives were at risk, the lawsuit explains. Now agencies are acting under emergency procedures only due to the president's unlawful order.

The U.S. Department of the Interior, for example, is currently implementing these procedures for several projects, such as the Wildcat Loadout Facility, on Bureau of Land Management land located in Price, Utah. At this facility, oil extracted from the Uinta Basin is loaded from tanker trucks to rail cars for export to refineries along the Gulf Coast. During this journey, rail cars travel from the Wildcat Facility over 100 miles along the Colorado River through Colorado.

The operator of the Wildcat Facility proposed an expansion of the loadout in 2023 but ultimately failed to provide BLM with information needed to conduct a proper environmental analysis. As a result, BLM terminated its review of the proposal. The expansion proposal, however, was revived in May 2025 just days after the Interior Department published its procedures for complying with the energy emergency executive order. BLM approved the operator's request for right-of-way expansion in July 2025 without any public comment period.

According to BLM's environmental assessment of the project, expansion of the Wildcat Facility will result in a substantial increase in oil train traffic-from 20,000 barrels of crude per day to approximately 100,000 barrels. The lifespan of the expanded project is estimated to be 20 years. Yet BLM found that the project would not significantly impact the environment.

The updated lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, names as defendants President Donald Trump, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the head of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. These agencies have taken illegal action to implement the president's directive.

The states ask the court to declare the president's directive illegal and to stop federal government agencies from issuing emergency permits under the executive order.

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

Read a copy of the updated complaint State of Washington v. Trump et al (PDF).

###

Media Contact:
Lawrence Pacheco
Chief Communications Officer
(720) 508-6553 office
[email protected]