Published August 19, 2022 5:16pm EDT
Biden's oil, gas moratorium dealt potentially fatal blow by federal court
Oil and gas leasing moratorium "beyond the authority" of Biden, court rules
By Thomas Catenacci FOXBusiness
A federal district court blocked the Biden administration's moratorium on federal oil and gas leasing, a potentially fatal blow to the policy that has been tied up in a legal battle since early 2021.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana Judge Terry Doughty issued a permanent injunction blocking the leasing moratorium in a ruling late Thursday evening.
Doughty wrote that President Biden "lacked any authority" to implement the policy under the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) and Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) which regulate federal leasing on public lands and waters.
"The Court finds Section 208 of Executive Order 14008 is ultra vires, beyond the authority of the President of the United States, and in violation of the OCSLA and the MLA," he wrote in the opinion. "Even the President cannot make significant changes to the OCSLA and/or the MLA that Congress did not delegate."
Biden issued Executive Order 14008 — titled the "Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad" — on Jan. 27, 2021, days after taking office. The action ordered the Department of the Interior (DOI) to pause new oil and natural gas leases, a policy Biden pledged to pursue during his 2020 campaign, while it conducts a review of the federal leasing program.
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https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/bidens-oil-gas-moratorium-dealt-potentially-fatal-blow-federal-court
