14 GOP Attorneys General sue President Biden over his pause on oil and gas leasing

The Biden administration is being taken to court, again.

The Washington Examiner reports that fourteen different states have filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden to challenge his pause of oil and gas leasing on federal lands. 

Background

Just after his inauguration, President Biden signed a series of executive orders in the name of combatting climate change.

Among these executive orders was an order that stopped the secretary of the Interior Department from issuing new leases for drilling for oil and gas on federal lands and waters. It ought to be noted that the order does not prevent companies from getting permits under existing leases to drill for gas and oil on federal land.

“We’ve already waited too long to deal with the climate crisis,” Biden said at the time. “We cannot wait any longer.”

The latest

On Wednesday, the attorneys general of fourteen different states brought a lawsuit against the Biden administration challenging this executive order. The group is being led by Jeff Landry (R), the attorney general of Louisiana.

What Landry and the other attorneys general allege, according to the Washington Examiner, is that Biden’s executive order is illegal because it “‘contravenes congressional commands’ that require federal agencies to advance the speedy and safe development of ‘abundant energy resources’ on public lands.”

On top of this, the group states that Biden’s order would actually hurt the environment of their states by taking away the financial benefits that come from this oil and gas drilling.

Generally, states receive half of the revenue generated from this drilling. The attorneys general say that a portion of the revenue that the states receive goes toward environmental projects.

“Illegal and unlawful”

“We believe that the president’s actions are illegal and unlawful, and we’re going to hold him accountable for them to try to make sure that the gains that we’ve made over the years to help protect domestic oil and gas and energy continue,” Landry said during an interview on Wednesday.

Besides Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia have all joined in the lawsuit.

Wyoming is the fourteenth state, although it has decided to file its own lawsuit in Wyoming. The rest of the states are part of the lawsuit that was filed by Landry in Louisiana.

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