A US judge invalidated a major oil-and-gas lease sale saying the government failed to account for its climate change effect, in a significant win for environment advocates.
The decision cast uncertainty over the future of the US federal offshore drilling programme, which has been a chief source of public revenue for decades but also drawn the ire of activists concerned about its effect on the environment and contribution to global warming.
[...]
The sale generated more than $190m, the highest since 2019, on 1.7 million acres sold. It drew bids from US oil majors including Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp.
Thursday’s decision came after the environmental group Earthjustice challenged the sale on behalf of four other green groups, arguing US President Joe Biden’s interior department was relying on a years-old environmental analysis that did not accurately consider greenhouse gas emissions that would result from development of the blocks.
[Judge Rudolph] Contreras agreed, faulting the administration for excluding foreign consumption from its greenhouse gas emissions analysis and for ignoring the latest science on the role of oil-and-gas development in global warming.
[...]
The offshore drilling industry slammed the decision.
“Uncertainty around the future of the US federal offshore leasing programme may only strengthen the geopolitical influence of higher emitting – and adversarial – nations, such as Russia,” National Ocean Industries Association President Erik Milito said in reaction to the ruling.
Scott Lauermann, a spokesman for oil industry lobby group the American Petroleum Institute, said it was “reviewing” the decision and “considering our options”.
alJazeera
I'm guessing this will go to the Supreme Court.
Biden last January had announced a moratorium on new gas and oil drilling on federal land pending a review in an effort to make responding to the climate crisis a central part of his presidency.
But a federal judge in Louisiana, nominated by former president Donald Trump, ruled in June the administration had to get congressional approval for such a move.
[...]
Devorah Ancel, senior lawyer at the Sierra Club, one of the plaintiffs, told the Financial Times: “The Biden administration’s failure to adequately evaluate the climate impacts of this massive lease sale wasn’t just out of step with their stated commitment to climate action, it was also illegal.”
Biden campaigned for the White House partially on a pledge to end federal oil-and-gas drilling to fight climate change, but efforts to suspend new auctions failed after Gulf Coast states sued.
Congress has mandated that the United States hold regular auctions of public lands for oil-and-gas development.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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