September, 06 2022, 01:48pm EDT
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For Immediate Release
Contact:
Perry Wheeler, Earthjustice, 202-792-6211, pwheeler@earthjustice.org
Melissa Hornbein, Western Environmental Law Center, 406-471-3173, hornbein@westernlaw.org
Court Rejects Wyoming, Industry Challenge to Biden Administration Postponement of Oil, Gas Lease Sales
WASHINGTON
A federal judge in Wyoming affirmed the Biden administration's decisions to postpone oil and gas lease sales in early 2021, holding that the federal government has broad authority to postpone sales to address environmental concerns.
In his ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl rejected arguments by industry and Wyoming and found that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) acted within its legal authority under the Mineral Leasing Act, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and other laws when it postponed lease sales to ensure that it fully considered the environmental harms they could cause. The court also held that industry and Wyoming lacked standing to challenge the postponement.
"We're pleased the Judge affirmed the Department of the Interior has significant discretion to decide when to offer public oil and gas resources at lease sales. The law requires Interior to serve the public interest by analyzing and considering the environmental and social costs of leasing before holding lease sales, and that's what they did," said Bob LeResche, Powder River Basin Resource Council board member from Clearmont, Wyoming. "Last year BLM initiated a comprehensive review of the federal oil and gas program, and this is the perfect time for the Department to complete their review and fully reform the federal oil and gas program to better protect taxpayers, communities, and the environment. We call on them to do so."
In early 2021, the Biden administration issued an executive order aimed at tackling the climate crisis, which directed the Department of the Interior to temporarily pause new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and offshore waters. The pause was meant to provide the federal government an opportunity to undertake a systematic review of its oil and gas program and consider how to address its climate impacts. Before the Interior Department could decide how to implement the executive order, it was targeted in five lawsuits filed by industry trade associations and Republican-led states.
Friday's ruling came in two of those lawsuits, brought by the state of Wyoming, Western Energy Alliance (WEA), and the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. Earthjustice and the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) intervened on behalf of 21 groups to defend the lease sale postponements and leasing pause.
"This ruling is a victory for people who cherish public lands, and the communities whose livelihoods are intertwined with these special places," said Ben Tettlebaum, senior staff attorney with The Wilderness Society. "The court rightly affirmed that our public lands are not up for a fire sale to the fossil fuel industry whenever it chooses. The Interior Department has the clear authority to manage these lands for conservation, wildlife, and the health and well-being of communities who rely on them."
"We find it reassuring that the court affirmed the Bureau of Land Management's authority to postpone oil and gas lease sales in order to make certain they adhere to the law," said Melissa Hornbein, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. "The judge called out as nonsensical the state and industry group's argument that postponing a lease to ensure compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires a NEPA analysis of its own. This suggests any appeal of this decision will have an uphill battle in court."
The Wyoming ruling follows an August 18 ruling from the Western District of Louisiana that permanently blocked a blanket leasing pause in 13 states (not including Wyoming) that sued over the executive order in Louisiana District Court. The Louisiana ruling came one day after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a preliminary injunction previously issued by the Louisiana court, finding that it lacked adequate "specificity." Similar to the Wyoming decision, however, the August 18 Louisiana ruling appears to permit the government to postpone sales based on National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other concerns.
"Given the climate crisis and its superstorms, floods, fires, and droughts, it's essential that the President have the authority to control oil and gas leasing - or deny leasing - on mineral deposits owned by the American people," said Erik Molvar, executive director with Western Watersheds Project. "Friday's ruling puts the federal government back in the driver's seat for managing federal mineral deposits and paves the way for keeping oil and gas in the ground."
"BLM has never adequately considered the impacts of its fossil fuel leasing program on climate," said Peter Hart, attorney at Wilderness Workshop. "Courts across the country have found BLM's leasing decisions illegal based on this failure. This opinion confirms that BLM doesn't have to continue selling leases that don't comply with law. Instead, the agency should STOP and consider the real impacts of more leasing. After that, we may all agree: 'it isn't worth it!'"
"The climate induced disasters keep stacking up, from mega droughts and catastrophic floods to wildfires and unhealthy air. Business as usual is not working," said Anne Hedges, director of policy for the Montana Environmental Information Center. "The President simply must have the ability to take the time necessary to find a better path forward. People's lives, livelihoods and our public lands depend on getting this right. This pause is a small step in the right direction."
"The court reaffirmed the federal government's long-standing obligation to protect the environment and public interest, not just sell off lands when demanded by oil and gas companies," said Michael Freeman, senior attorney with Earthjustice's Rocky Mountain Office. "We hope the Biden administration will exercise that authority to limit new oil and gas leasing and avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis."
"This welcome decision affirms that the Biden administration has wide latitude to rein in federal fossil fuels," said Taylor McKinnon with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Allowing any new fossil fuel projects, including oil and gas leasing, is incompatible with avoiding catastrophic climate change. The administration still has much work to do to bring federal fossil fuel production to a swift and orderly end."
"The law is clear, the oil and gas industry doesn't have a right to frack public lands," said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians' Climate and Energy program director. "And given our climate crisis, it's more critical than ever to ensure the industry is not fracking public lands."
"This decision shows that the Department of Interior is not beholden to the fossil fuel industry, as many states and industry groups have alleged," said Adam Carlesco, staff attorney with Food & Water Watch. "Given this understanding of its legal authority, Interior must move towards a future where public lands are protected for a variety of uses - not simply used as sacrifice zones for a polluting industry that is exacerbating our climate crisis."
"This decision marks a step forward in ensuring our public lands are part of the climate solution, not the problem," said Dan Ritzman, director of the Sierra Club's Lands Water Wildlife Campaign. "At a time when we need to be rapidly transitioning away from dirty oil and gas to meet our climate commitments and avoid the worst of the climate crisis, the last thing we need is to sell off even more of our treasured public lands to the fossil fuel industry."
"The court's sensible decision is not only welcome, but necessary in the face of the climate crisis and ongoing environmental racism," said Hallie Templeton, legal director at Friends of the Earth. "The administration's hands were never tied, in part because bedrock environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy Act authorize the government to analyze and halt actions that pose serious harm, like more oil and gas development."
"This is a sensible decision which allows the federal government to take the steps needed to tackle the climate crisis," said Matt Kirby, senior energy director at the National Parks Conservation Association. "Climate change is an urgent threat to our planet and way of life and we need an administration able to take these bold steps in order to protect our national parks. We hope the administration will continue to strengthen its position and eventually end all new leasing on public lands."
Earthjustice and the Western Environmental Law Center represent a coalition of conservation and citizen groups in the Wyoming litigation. Earthjustice represents Conservation Colorado, Friends of the Earth, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, The Wilderness Society, Valley Organic Growers Association, Western Colorado Alliance, Western Watersheds Project, and Wilderness Workshop. The Western Environmental Law Center represents Center for Biological Diversity, Citizens for a Healthy Community, Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, Earthworks, Food & Water Watch, Indian People's Action, Montana Environmental Information Center, Powder River Basin Resource Council, Western Organization of Resource Councils, and WildEarth Guardians.
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
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Kamala Harris Wins March for Our Lives' First-Ever Endorsement
"Kamala Harris has proven herself to be a thoughtful and forceful leader on gun violence, who has time and again listened to young people and fought for our lives."
Jul 24, 2024
March for Our Lives, which was launched six years ago after yet another U.S. mass shooting, announced its first-ever political endorsement on Wednesday, backing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris' bid for the White House.
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Warning of the threat posed by Republican former President Donald Trump—who just survived an assassination attempt—and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), March for Our Lives said that "the country that young people will soon inherit stands at the precipice—on one side, authoritarianism that threatens our fundamental rights, including our right to live freely without fear of gun violence; on the other, a world where we can keep fighting to build the future that young people know we deserve."
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Since Sunday, Parkland shooting survivor and March for Our Lives co-founder David Hogg has been fiercely supporting Harris, posting on his social media frequent updates about her historic fundraising successes over the past few days.
"Kamala Harris has proven herself to be a thoughtful and forceful leader on gun violence, who has time and again listened to young people and fought for our lives," Hogg said in a statement Wednesday. "Given her strong record on gun safety and prioritizing youth voices during her time in office, I'm proud that Kamala Harris will receive March for Our Lives' first-ever endorsement, and I'm so excited for our work to mobilize young people for her campaign."
Natalie Fall, the group's executive director, toldABC News—which first reported on the endorsement—that "we see a lot of energy around Vice President Harris in this election; there's no denying that. I think everybody's seeing it right now."
"I just think young people in particular didn't really see themselves represented or reflected in the Biden ticket in the way that they wanted. It's not to say that President Biden hasn't had great accomplishments," she explained. "But I think we need someone who can meet this moment and who is up to the challenge of taking Donald Trump to task and really defeating his effort to erode all of our institutions and our democracy."
March for Our Lives members plan to participate in this year's election through creative campaigns, door-knocking, and phone banks, Fall said. In a statement, she added that the group aims to elect not only Harris but also candidates "up and down the ballot" who support its priorities.
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The gun violence prevention group's endorsement adds to Harris' mounting pile. Throughout the week, she has also received support from many Democratic governors and members of Congress as well as climate, labor, and reproductive rights groups.
As young people rally behind Harris, she is also seeing support from advocates for older Americans. Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, wrote in a Wednesday opinion piece for Common Dreams that "Joe Biden has been the best president for seniors in over half a century. Kamala Harris will be even better."
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"A cabinet minister is supposed to maintain neutrality," the 48-year-old minister conceded, "but that's impossible to do after [U.S. President Joe] Biden."
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Jul 24, 2024
Five wealthy countries including the United States have led a global surge in oil and gas development in 2024, threatening international climate goals, according to an analysis published by The Guardian on Wednesday.
The U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Norway together are projected by the end of 2024 to have issued licenses for fossil fuel projects that will emit 11.9 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetimes—far more than in any of the previous five years, and roughly equal to a full year of emissions from China, the world's highest emitter—according to industry data analyzed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and shared with the newspaper.
The five states are responsible for more than two-thirds of all oil and gas licenses issued globally since 2020, with the U.S. alone accounting for half of the world total. President Joe Biden's administration increased oil and gas licensing by 20% over Trump-era levels, and issued a record 758 new extraction licenses in 2023, according to the analysis.
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Revealed: wealthy western countries lead in global oil and gas expansion
Surge by world’s wealthiest countries – such as the US and the UK- threatens to unleash 12bn tonnes of planet-heating emissions.
By @olliemilman & @ninalakhani https://t.co/esY5IuIfi9
— jonathanwatts (@jonathanwatts) July 24, 2024
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The Conservative-led U.K. government issued a surge of North Sea licenses in the first half of this year, but lost power to the Labour Party following a general election earlier this month. It's not yet clear if Labour will be able or willing to rescind licenses already issued. Currently the U.K. is set to finish 2024 with 72 licenses for projects that would create 101 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetimes—a 50-year high, according to the IISD analysis. Norway and Australia are also seeing major upticks this year.
Capital expenditure at the world's largest oil companies is up 60% since 2020, with $302 billion projected to be spent on well development this year, The Guardian reported. The fossil fuel expansion continues even though the reserves in rich countries are generally hard to reach, as more accessible reserves have already been tapped.
The expansion also comes in spite of disturbing climate news—2023 was hottest year on record, June was the 13th consecutive hottest month, and Monday was the hottest day, having broken a record set the previous day—and dire warnings from leading international institutions. No new fossil fuel projects can proceed if the world is to meet the 1.5° Paris agreement target, the International Energy Agency declared in 2021.
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