Dear Governor González-Colón:
Left-wing extremists tried to muscle the Green New Deal through Congress during your tenure as Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner. They failed. Now they have turned to the courts to impose their agenda on our country—and Puerto Rico is participating.
There are three active tracks of litigation we commend to your attention. In the first track, 37 Puerto Rican cities and towns have filed a lawsuit layered with extortionate demands, blaming American energy companies for climate change. The city of San Juan filed a second, separate complaint. And the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico also filed its own lawsuit. These cases undermine the energy policy your administration plans to pursue for Puerto Rico, as well as the Trump administration’s agenda of energy abundance.
These lawsuits are part of a coordinated lawfare attack on our quality of life. More than 30 cities and states have filed similar lawsuits against energy companies. The same group of lawyers represents many of these plaintiffs and advances the same set of claims. In fact, U.S. District Judge Aida Delgado-Colón issued a scathing order earlier this month accusing San Juan of plagiarizing much of its complaint from the parallel municipalities’ lawsuit, underlining the deep level of coordination among the plaintiffs.
Their goal is to bankrupt energy companies or to leverage the threat of tort damages to force outcomes that would be disastrous for Puerto Rico and the rest of the nation. My organization, the American Energy Institute, is dedicated to promoting abundant, reliable, and affordable energy for all Americans. Your energy agenda reflects our shared goals. Since becoming governor, you have taken decisive action to stabilize Puerto Rico’s energy grid by increasing access to liquefied natural gas and reversing unrealistic, anti-consumer deadlines for transitioning energy sources.
Climate lawfare threatens to derail your administration’s common-sense approach. The climate plaintiffs are advancing a fundamentally neocolonial agenda. They are steering Puerto Rico toward a “green” energy future it did not choose—one that ignores the basic needs of its people, who simply require cheap and reliable electricity.
Climate litigation also impedes the Trump administration from fulfilling its election mandate to expand domestic energy production. As you may have seen, President Trump recently issued an executive order addressing this form of climate lawfare. That order reads:
“States have also sued energy companies for supposed ‘climate change’ harm under nuisance or other tort regimes that could result in crippling damages. These State laws and policies weaken our national security and devastate Americans by driving up energy costs for families coast-to-coast, despite some of these families not living or voting in States with these crippling policies.”
Consistent with your actions as governor, we respectfully urge you to consider the following additional steps to protect Puerto Rico’s energy future:
- Direct the Secretary of Justice to withdraw Puerto Rico’s complaint in the Puerto Rico v. Exxon Mobil case filed in the Superior Court of San Juan.
- File amicus briefs in the San Juan and Puerto Rican municipalities litigation in favor of dismissal with prejudice.
- Appoint judges to the Puerto Rican judiciary who will respect the separation of powers and leave political issues to the democratically elected branches.
- Discourage state contracts with outside counsel, such as Milberg or Smouse & Mason, who are using public legal engagements to advance far-left political objectives.
We applaud your work to steer Puerto Rico toward a more prosperous future.
Sincerely,
Hon. Jason Isaac CEO, American Energy Institute