Court tosses anti-leasing-pause order

A federal court reversed an earlier ruling halting the Biden administration’s anti-leasing order. Also, we’ll break down the environmental implications of the Inflation Reduction Act and how the government projects renewables will increase this year.

Appeals court axes ruling against oil leasing pause

An appeals court on Wednesday tossed an injunction that halted the Biden administration’s pause on new oil and gas leasing and sent the case back to a lower court for further proceedings.  

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the injunction didn’t make clear what exactly the Biden administration is and isn’t allowed to do. 

What are the specifics? The appeals court didn’t weigh in on whether the lower court was right to block the oil and gas leasing pause, saying the lower court first needed to deal with the procedural issue. 

• “We cannot reach the merits of the Government’s challenge when we cannot ascertain from the record what conduct—an unwritten agency policy, a written policy outside of the Executive Order, or the Executive Order itself—is enjoined,” found the three-judge panel made up of a Reagan, Clinton and Obama appointee.  
• “Our review of [Administrative Procedure Act] claims must begin by determining if there was final agency action. Where, as here, it is unclear what final agency action the district court predicated its order upon, we are unable to reach the merits of the appeal,” the panel added.  

How we got here: At the beginning of his tenure, President Biden paused new oil and gas leasing on public lands and in public waters, preventing the start of the process for new oil and gas production offshore and on lands owned by the federal government. 

Biden’s pause did not interrupt existing drilling and did not prevent new drilling on private lands.  

Last year, a federal judge in Louisiana halted the moratorium while the case against it played out, arguing that there were likely to be losses to the states as a result.  

In an executive order directing the pause, Biden said it should be carried out “pending completion of a comprehensive review and reconsideration of Federal oil and gas permitting and leasing practices” 

Biden secures climate legacy: activists

President Biden is enacting climate action at a previously unprecedented scale in the United States and establishing a significant environmental legacy in signing the Inflation Reduction Act, say climate advocates. 

Biden, during his first year in office, pledged to cut U.S. emissions that lead to climate change in half by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.  

On Tuesday, he signed a bill that is expected to go a long way toward reaching that goal. 

“Decades from now, this will be remembered as a turning point in federal policy on climate change. This is the first real, big bill,” said Jamal Raad, executive director of environmental group Evergreen Action.