Fate of electric vehicle infrastructure at center of new lawsuit targeting Trump admin.

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — created a $5 billion fund to build a network of EV chargers.

Seventeen Democratic attorneys general sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, seeking a court order that would permanently block the federal government from withholding funds from a $5 billion program intended to build out electric vehicle infrastructure.

The lawsuit filed in a Seattle federal court by a group of states led by California, Washington and Colorado alleges that President Donald Trump’s order to freeze the funds is “in diametric opposition to statutory mandate.”

The states say the withheld funds, mandated under a 2021 infrastructure law, would derail plans to build infrastructure they view as key to reducing air pollution — which contributes to asthma, cancer and climate change.

By following Trump’s directive and withholding the funds without warning or transparent review, the states claim the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has violated the Administrative Procedure Act, the 2021 law and the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers and “take care” clauses that require the president to faithfully execute laws passed by Congress.

“The President continues his unconstitutional attempts to withhold funding that Congress appropriated to programs he dislikes,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

“This time he’s illegally stripping away billions of dollars for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, all to line the pockets of his Big Oil friends,” he continued.

The White House and FHWA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The program at the heart of the lawsuit is known as the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, which the U.S. Department of Energy says can cover up to 80% of eligible costs to “strategically deploy electric vehicle chargers” and create an interconnected network of them.

So far, roughly $3.3 billion of the $5 billion program has been made available, according to the lawsuit.

Funds are required to be dispersed between 2022 and 2026.

The case is part of a broader wave of lawsuits over the administration’s decisions to withhold climate funding from major federal spending laws, including the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Those laws together are considered the largest investment in climate change action in U.S. history.

On the climate and environment front, there are multiple pending lawsuits that have been filed by public-private investment funds, organic farmers and others challenging decisions to withhold funds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and others.

Multiple other lawsuits target orders to freeze funds for things like education or immigration processing as well.