A man fishes near oil rigs docked in 2020 in Port Aransas, Texas. A federal judge revoked oil and gas leases sold in the Gulf of Mexico in November, saying the Interior Department had failed to account for its impact on climate change.
Eric Gay / AP
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Eric Gay / AP
A man fishes near oil rigs docked in 2020 in Port Aransas, Texas. A federal judge revoked oil and gas leases sold in the Gulf of Mexico in November, saying the Interior Department had failed to account for its impact on climate change.
Eric Gay / AP
Late last year, just days after pledging to cut fossil fuels at international climate talks in Glasgow, the Biden administration staged the largest oil and gas lease in US history.
On Thursday, a federal judge nullified that purchase in the Gulf of Mexico, saying the administration had failed to adequately consider the costs to the world’s climate.
The administration used an analysis conducted under former President Donald Trump that alleged environmental groups were severely flawed.
The decision represents a major victory by a coalition of environmental groups that have challenged the controversial purchase, calling it a “huge climate bomb”.
Eighty million acres – an area twice the size of Florida – were put up for auction in November.
Climate groups urged the Biden administration to halt the sale, but the Interior Department said it was forced to continue after another federal judge overturned the administration’s temporary ban on new oil and gas rental sales. . Oil and gas companies just ended up bidding on 1.7 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico.
Those leases will be vacated by decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the Department of the Interior will have to conduct a new environmental analysis if it decides to hold another sale.
Earthjustice senior attorney Brettny Hardy said: “We are pleased that the court has nullified the Home Office’s illegal rental sale. “We simply cannot continue to invest in the fossil fuel industry to endanger our communities and the increasingly warming planet.”
The development and consumption of fossil fuels are the biggest drivers of climate change. The world has was warmed more than 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial times, getting worse and worse Forest fires, stormy and heat waveand disrupt the natural world.
About a quarter of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions come from fossil fuels extracted from public lands.
The Biden administration has promised to review the country’s oil and gas leasing program to better account for its contributions to climate change.
Immediately after taking office, it Temporarily blocked all new oil and gas leases on public lands during the review, but the moratorium was struck down after being challenged by more than a dozen Republican-led states.
Scheduled rental sales have resumed after that decision, including a massive purchase in the Bay Area, which attracted nearly $200 million in bids.
The climate impact analysis used by the Biden Administration was conducted under former President Donald Trump. They argued that not leasing space would lead to more greenhouse gas emissions as it would increase fossil fuel production abroad.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras wrote that the Interior Department acted “arbitrarily and erratically in excluding foreign consumption from their greenhouse gas emissions,” adding that “error really a serious failure.”
“America’s offshore sector is critical to America’s energy security, and continued leasing is essential to keeping energy at bay,” said Erik Milito, president of the National Association of Ocean Industries. flows from this strategic national asset”.
The Biden administration could choose to do a new analysis and bring up the Gulf of Mexico portion in another rental sale. Environmental groups will wait.
The fight isn’t over yet,” said Hallie Templeton, legal director at Friends of the Earth. We will continue to hold the Biden administration accountable for making unlawful decisions that run counter to its commitment to taking prompt, urgent action on ‘code red’ climate and public priorities. by environment. “
