Biden administration to delay oil and gas leasing amid legal appeal
The Biden administration will suspend or delay new federal oil and gas leasing following a court ruling against the process by which it calculates the social cost of climate change, the administration announced Saturday night.
On Feb. 11, Judge James Cain of the Western District of Louisiana, a Trump appointee, blocked the administration's method of calculating the social costs associated with greenhouse gases, the primary driver of climate change. The Biden administration had returned to Obama-era calculation methods, with plans to develop its own in the future.
In his ruling, Cain blocked federal agencies from considering findings from the White House Interagency Working Group, which had been tasked with devising new metrics based on the Obama-era calculations. It also bars the administration from considering the global impacts of greenhouse gas emissions, one of the major distinctions that made the Obama estimates far higher than the Trump administration's.
In a legal filing Saturday evening, the Justice Department asked the court to stay the injunction, citing the likelihood that its appeal of the decision will succeed.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-administration-to-delay-oil-and-gas-leasing-amid-legal-appeal/ar-AAU6odB
Biden administration freezes new oil and gas drilling leases after court rules against key tool
The Biden administration has once again put a pause on new leases and permits for federal oil and gas drilling after a judge blocked the administration from using a metric that estimates the societal cost of carbon emissions.
Earlier this month, US District Judge James Cain of the Western District of Louisiana issued an injunction preventing the Biden administration from using what's known as the "social cost of carbon" in decisions around oil and gas drilling on public land, or in rules governing fossil fuel emissions. The ruling has consequences for a range of Biden administration actions on climate change, but especially on the Interior Department's federal oil and gas leasing program.
In an appeal filed by government attorneys on Saturday night, the Biden administration argued Cain's injunction necessitated a pause on all projects where the government was using a social-cost-of-carbon analysis in its decision-making.
The appeal is the latest in a legal battle in the courts between several Republican-led states and the Biden administration over the social cost of carbon, a metric that uses economic models to put a value on each ton of carbon dioxide emitted. The idea is to quantify the economic harm caused by the climate crisis like sea level rise, more destructive hurricanes, extreme wildfire seasons
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/climate-change-biden-administration-freezes-new-oil-and-gas-drilling-leases-after-court-rules-against-key-tool/ar-AAU7HqZ
Pretty much expected from this particular court.