Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined 15 other attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against President Trump's Department of Energy, alleging the department failed to meet legal deadlines for reviewing and updating national energy efficiency standards.
According to the AG's office, the department didn't update standards for 25 categories of consumer and commercial products, including home appliances like washers and dryers, refrigerators and freezers, microwave ovens and more.
The AG's office said the deadlines are set by Congress in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act and have been in place for four years.
"The Trump administration has neglected to develop or maintain key energy efficiency standards, and this failure will ultimately cost consumers upward of $580 billion and could prove detrimental to our environment,” Nessel said in a release. “These updated standards are long overdue. It’s time for the administration to meet its legal responsibilities and finally strengthen these critically important measures for the benefit of both consumers and our natural resources.”
Other states that joined the suit include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massacusetts, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, the District of Columbia and the city of New York.
Energy efficiency standards established by the EPCA cover more than 60 categories of different products, which use about 90% of the total energy consumed in homes, 60% of energy used in commercial buildings and 30% of the energy used in the country's industry.
Michigan joins several other states suing Trump administration over energy efficiency standards by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 Detroit on Scribd
