Democrats who refuse to secure the border named their green energy scheme Closing Tier II Border.
That law is why Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington state are all paying 20 to 33 percent more for electricity.
Trump already handed the DOJ what it needs to kill the scheme and the question is why they haven't moved.
Green Energy Mandates Are Why Electricity Bills in Blue States Are Up 21 Percent
Nationally, inflation-adjusted electricity prices rose just 3.6 percent between July 2024 and July 2026 – a fantasy number for any blue state running a green energy mandate.
Maryland is up 21.3 percent.
Pennsylvania is up 20.4. New Jersey, 14.4.
Washington state is up 33.7 percent – nearly ten times the national average.
Democrats want you to blame Trump and AI data centers.
The real answer is buried in state law – and the people who wrote it left fingerprints everywhere.
Pennsylvania enacted Act 40 in 2017 and Act 114 in 2020.
Both laws had one purpose: cut West Virginia's energy producers out of Pennsylvania's market because they use coal.
Before those laws, out-of-state producers supplied 40 percent of Pennsylvania's Tier II energy credits across a shared 13-state regional grid.
Pennsylvania changed the rules, closed the door, and called it clean energy policy.
Today that number is zero.
Pennsylvania's compliance costs went from $122.5 million in 2020 to more than $700 million in 2025 – a nearly sixfold increase that Pennsylvanians paid every dime of.
Pennsylvania's renewable energy share has sat at roughly 4 percent of total generation since 2013 – exactly where it was before any of this started.
Nearly $578 million in extra annual compliance costs, and zero additional renewable energy to show for it.
The state didn't even try to hide it – they named one of the bills "Closing Tier II Border."
Democrats who scream about securing no border are happy to wall one off when it shields green energy profits from competition.
Bowser's $20-a-month admission is set to double by 2029, while Maryland Gov. Wes Moore insists no governor can fix rising energy costs.
The woman running the nation's capital managed to notice what the governor of Maryland can't.
The West Virginia Lawsuit That Could Strike Down Blue State Renewable Energy Mandates
West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey filed a federal lawsuit against Pennsylvania's Public Utility Commission on September 3, 2026.
His charge: "naked economic warfare between states."
West Virginia energy producers lost $25 million in 2025 alone because Pennsylvania locked them out of the market.
The state projects more than $895 million in lost revenue over the next decade if the protectionism stands.
McCuskey's legal theory has already won in federal court – just under a different state name.
In 2016, North Dakota fought Minnesota's attempt to block coal power imports from out of state, and the Eighth Circuit struck it down as a Commerce Clause violation.
Pennsylvania's case is actually worse – Minnesota never named its law "Closing the Border."
Pennsylvania did.
If West Virginia wins, every other blue-state renewable mandate faces the same Commerce Clause challenge.
Trump didn't wait for a lawsuit to act.
Executive Order 14260, signed April 8, 2025, directed the Attorney General to stop enforcement of state laws discriminating against out-of-state energy producers.
The DOJ responded by suing four blue states in May 2025 for unconstitutional climate laws – and West Virginia's case fits that same order exactly.
Joining it would carry out that executive order and stand with a state that has stood with him.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum won that exact Commerce Clause fight for North Dakota a decade ago – the blueprint is already in the Eighth Circuit record.
Joining the West Virginia case would also force Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro to answer for the scheme on the record before 2028.
Shapiro filed a federal complaint in 2024 calling it the "largest unjust wealth transfer" in energy market history.
Then his administration went to court to defend it.
A man with presidential ambitions cannot play consumer advocate in one courtroom and cartel defender in the other.
Democrats buried a green energy tax in every power bill, bet no one would read the fine print, and figured conservative states were too beaten down to fight back.
West Virginia is fighting back.
AG Todd Blanche has Trump's executive order, a battle-tested legal theory, and a willing partner in West Virginia.
So why hasn't he moved?
Sources:
- "Green Mandates Are the Real Culprit of High Energy Bills," The Washington Times, November 2, 2026.
- "DOJ Sues Four Blue States Over 'Unconstitutional' Climate Laws Threatening US Energy Security," Fox News, May 1, 2025.
- "West Virginia Sues Pennsylvania Over 'Naked Economic Warfare,'" West Virginia Gazette Mail, September 8, 2026.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, July 2026.
- Christina Bobb, "West Virginia Is Trying to Lower Soaring Energy Prices – President Trump's DOJ Should Follow Suit," Townhall, October 16, 2026.