Fourteen US states filed suit on Wednesday against President Joe Biden’s moratorium on new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and waters.
Fourteen US states filed suit on Wednesday against President Joe Biden’s moratorium on new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and waters.
A coalition of 13 states, led by Louisiana, filed one lawsuit on Wednesday while Wyoming filed a separate lawsuit. The states in Louisiana’s suit are as follows: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia. All 14 states have Republican attorneys general.
Biden signed an executive order Jan. 27 to suspend new leasing as part of a series of actions to address climate change and transition the US economy away from fossil fuel production and toward renewable energy.
“This moratorium might make for a nice headline about fighting climate change, but the real consequences of the action are far from certain and far from uniformly environmentally friendly,” the Wyoming lawsuit said.
