Over a dozen largely Democratic states are suing President Trump's administration over his efforts to fast-track energy projects, saying the administration is bypassing environmental protection laws, CBS reported.

Trump issued an executive order declaring a "national energy emergency" on the first day of his presidency — part of Trump's push to expand U.S. oil and gas production. The order urges oil and gas expansion through federal use of eminent domain and the Defense Production Act, which allows the government to use private land and resources to produce goods deemed to be a national necessity.

Those kinds of steps are supposed to be reserved for actual emergencies, such as projects needed in the aftermath of disasters like hurricanes, flooding, or major oil spills, the attorneys general wrote in the lawsuit filed in Washington state Friday.

But now, the 15 plaintiffs states allege, agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Interior are bypassing required reviews under federal laws like the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. The states argue that an improper permitting process "will result in significant and irreparable harm to state natural and historic resources and the people and biota that rely on those resources for drinking, farming, recreating, and habitat."