The Biden administration is attempting to ban oil and gas leases on federal lands and a federal judge has stepped in to issue a preliminary block to that move.
According to Fox Business:
A federal judge in Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Biden administration from pausing new oil and gas leases on federal land.
Judge Terry A. Doughty of the U.S. District Court in Monroe said the administration doesn’t have the legal right to stop leasing federal territory for oil-and-gas production without approval from Congress.
The judge, appointed by former President Donald Trump, also said that states suing the federal government—largely southern and coastal states—will be harmed immediately as the pause prevents them from collecting lease bids and bonuses from oil-and-gas prospectors.
The suit was filed by the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
An interesting fact the judge pointed out is that some of the funds from oil and gas leases go to restoring Louisiana’s coast. So, Biden says he is for the environment, but in practice he severely hinders its restoration.
