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The Justice Department will rename one of its divisions the Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). The announcement was originally made yesterday by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of ENRD in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.
“Energy security is national security. Iran’s recent stranglehold on the global oil market shows that domestic energy production is critical to preserving our way of life and securing our prosperity,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gustafson of ENRD. “Over the past two decades, the division has played a central role in the responsible production and use of energy, driven by technological advances from the shale revolution to AI. To recognize this evolution, we will now rename it the Energy and Natural Resources Division.”
ENRD’s recent victories in support of domestic energy include the successful defense of President Trump’s executive orders on unleashing American energy, reinvigorating the clean coal industry, and declaring an energy emergency. ENRD also recently won dismissal of a lawsuit that threatened oil production in the Gulf of America.
ENRD continues to defend several key Administration priorities aimed at domestic energy production, including:
- Emergency orders by the Energy Department that have kept power plants running;
- The Energy Department order restarting the Sable pipeline in California pursuant to Defense Production Act; and
- The temporary power source for an artificial intelligence platform with critical military applications.
ENRD’s efforts to unleash American energy also include affirmative litigation against state anti-energy policies that are preempted by federal law, including:
- Climate superfund acts passed by New York and Vermont to expropriate billions of dollars from global energy producers;
- Climate tort suits by Hawaii, Michigan, and Minnesota against energy producers;
- California’s SB 1137, which prohibits oil and gas production within certain zones, even on federal leased land; and
- Hawaii’s “Green Fee” climate tax on cruise ships.
ENRD’s work to unleash American energy does not diminish its defense of the environment, which Gustafson called “our nation’s greatest natural resource.” ENRD’s environmental enforcement protects public health and ensures a level playing field for companies that play by the rules. The Division’s recent enforcement actions include:
- Major civil settlements with a “forever chemical” manufacturer for water pollution, a grocery chain for coolant leaks, and a steel mill for hazardous waste;
- A $100 million air pollution penalty won at trial against a coke plant near Detroit;
- An 18-month prison sentence for biofuel fraud;
- A $500,000 criminal penalty for asbestos violations;
- Guilty pleas to environmental crimes by waste water pretreatment managers, a yacht manufacturer, a wood product importer, and a builder; and
- Indictments of a commercial incinerator, a wildlife trafficker, and the companies whose ship crashed into Baltimore’s Key Bridge.
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