The Biden administration has been sued again.
In the aftermath of President Biden’s executive order to pause all new leases for oil and gas drilling and exploration on federal lands, a group representing 200 member companies is suing the Biden administration.
The White House’s sweeping executive order states, in part:
“The order directs the Secretary of the Interior to pause on entering into new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or offshore waters to the extent possible, launch a rigorous review of all existing leasing and permitting practices related to fossil fuel development on public lands and waters, and identify steps that can be taken to double renewable energy production from offshore wind by 2030.”
There is now the beginnings of pushback against this clear case of massive federal overreach. The new lawsuit filed by the Western Energy Allilance argues the following points concisely:
- Suit argues the Executive Order conflicts with existing laws
- Biden’s ban would result in $33.5 billion in lost GDP in his first term
- President’s action risks over $8.8 billion annually in conservation funding
“The law is clear,” Western Energy Alliance states in a press release. “Presidents don’t have authority to ban leasing on public lands. All Americans own the oil and natural gas beneath public lands, and Congress has directed them to be responsibly developed on their behalf. Drying up new leasing puts future development as well as existing projects at risk. President Biden cannot simply ignore laws in effect for over half a century,” said Kathleen Sgamma, the president of the Alliance. “Biden’s ban is an overreach meant to satisfy the environmental left, but it would seriously harm the livelihoods of tens of thousands of westerners and put at risk millions more as state services become unfunded.”
The alliance of energy companies also attempted to put a pricetag on Biden’s executive order. “If extended, over the next 20 years the Biden Ban would result in $639.6 billion in lost GDP, $286 billion in lost wages, $151 billion in lost state tax revenue, and job losses climbing to 343,088 annually, according to the Wyoming Energy Authority study,” the group estimated.
The Western Energy Alliance lawsuit follows Texas‘ earlier legal petition against President Biden’s executive order directing federal law enforcement to not enforce immigration law,
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