Judge throws out Biden administration's massive Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sale
Source: Washington Post
A federal judge on Thursday invalidated the largest offshore oil and gas lease sale in the nation’s history, ruling that the Biden administration violated federal law by relying on a seriously flawed analysis of the climate change impact of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
The decision, by the the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, threw out 1.7 million acres of oil and gas leases that the Biden administration did not want to sell. Shortly after taking office, President Biden suspended new oil and gas drilling on lands and waters owned by the federal government. But after a Louisiana judge struck down the moratorium last summer, administration officials said they were forced to go through with the sale in November.
Environmental advocacy organizations challenged the sale, which netted nearly $192 million and ranked as the most profitable offshore auction since March 2019.
In his ruling, Judge Rudolph Contreras concluded that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had based its decision to hold the sale on a flawed environmental analysis that miscalculated the greenhouse gas emissions associated with future oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Completed under the Trump administration, the analysis found that the climate impacts would be worse if the acreage went unsold because foreign oil companies would increase their production, leading to more emissions of planet-warming gases.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/01/27/biden-gulf-of-mexico-lease-sale/?
= new reply since forum marked as read
Since I subscribe to WaPo, got the breaking news banner on this story, and then saw their distorted headline and pretzel-twisted article, I had been trying to hunt around for an alternate news source with a more accurate headline and description of what this court ruling meant, but wasn't fast enough. 
but here is the amended chronology (underscoring the complications) -
2. Orders sale on that basis.
3. Biden comes in, stops the sale.
3a. Louisiana federal district court LIFTS the Biden stop on sales
3b. Biden files appeal to the court stay on his sales ban
3c. Biden directs review and modification of existing agreements to comply with the court order while under appeal
4. Enviros challenge the assessment
4a. Once the revised lease sale process is completed, the first offers are initiated in November to comply with the court order
4b. Enviros win ruling.
The problem is the headline and overall characterization. The other problem are those who insist that one can defy a court order while appealing. Just. Because. And DESPITE the fact that the order itself allowed no such provision. There are times when something is under appeal and the court keeps thing status quo pending appeal. But there was no such provision and the administration then slow-walked continuing while the appeal was underway. The Louisiana judge was a TFG appointee.
This is what was reported about the Louisiana loon judge stay -
By Joshua Partlow and Juliet Eilperin
June 15, 2021 at 9:47 p.m. EDT
A federal judge in Louisiana on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction to block the Biden administration’s policy of pausing the sale of new oil and gas leases on federal land while reviewing how to reform the program. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty, a Trump appointee, was a blow to the Biden administration because reforming the oil leasing program is a key part of its fight against climate change and to try to get more for taxpayers from fossil-fuel development on public lands.
The president and his aides had moved swiftly to curb oil and gas development in the past six month, rescinding a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and suspending drilling leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Doughty said that the administration cannot stop leasing without congressional approval and that the fossil fuel-producing states that sued to challenge the Interior Department’s policy have “demonstrated a substantial threat of irreparable injury.”
Biden directed the Interior Department to suspend its leasing program during his first week in office. Interior Department officials had said the leasing hiatus would allow them to conduct a comprehensive review of how the leasing program works and to identify improvements. One of the key issues is whether to increase royalty rates for drilling onshore; those rates have been the same for a century. An interim report on the program is expected this summer.
“Although there is certainly nothing wrong with performing a comprehensive review, there is a problem in ignoring acts of Congress while the review is being completed,” Doughty wrote in his ruling.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/06/15/louisiana-judge-blocks-biden-administrations-oil-gas-leasing-pause/
Here is the PDF copy of the 44 page ruling by Western District of Louisiana Court Judge Terry A. Doughty - http://www.agjefflandry.com/Files/Article/10919/Documents/Memorandum.pdf
The critical part of that June ruling was this (from the PDF) -
WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA
LAKE CHARLES DIVISION
STATE OF LOUISIANA ET AL
VERSUS
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR. ET AL
CASE NO. 2:21-CV-00778
JUDGE TERRY A. DOUGHTY
MAG. JUDGE KATHLEEN KAY
(snip)
For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff States’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction [Doc. No. 3]. Therefore, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the United States Bureau of Land Management, the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, along with their directors, employees and Secretary are hereby ENJOINED and RESTRAINED from implementing the Pause of new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters as set forth in Section 208 of Executive Order 14008, 86 Fed. Reg. 7619, 7624-25 (Jan. 27, 2021) as to all eligible lands, both onshore, and offshore.
Additionally, said Agency Defendants shall be ENJOINED and RESTRAINED from implementing said Pause, with respect to Lease Sale 257, Lease Sale 258, and all eligible lands onshore. This preliminary injunction shall remain in effect pending the final resolution of this case, or until further orders from this Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, or the United States Supreme Court. No security bond shall be required under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65.
In one of the articles that I saw, Biden mentioned that Haaland was concerned with being held IN CONTEMPT OF COURT if they didn't establish that they were complying by following the Louisiana order (while pending the appeal and subsequent suit by the environmental groups).
(sorry I unloaded this on you
)
I'll have to let this matter float on by and come back to it when I learn more.
thanks.
The article WaPo threw together while they were high, stoned or tripping.
Incredibly misleading, Biden bashing headline.
Then, I perused the comments. They are nearly 100% criticizing the paper for the completely shameful Biden-destructing headline. Me thinks they are going to lose some subscribers and hopefully will be editing the headline.
Then again, it’s Jeff Bezos so we best not hold our breath.
CAFM
Here is the PDF copy by Western District of Louisiana Court Judge Terry A. Doughty - http://www.agjefflandry.com/Files/Article/10919/Documents/Memorandum.pdf
The critical part of that June ruling was this (from the PDF) -
WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA
LAKE CHARLES DIVISION
STATE OF LOUISIANA ET AL
VERSUS
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR. ET AL
CASE NO. 2:21-CV-00778
JUDGE TERRY A. DOUGHTY
MAG. JUDGE KATHLEEN KAY
(snip)
For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff States’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction [Doc. No. 3]. Therefore, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the United States Bureau of Land Management, the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, along with their directors, employees and Secretary are hereby ENJOINED and RESTRAINED from implementing the Pause of new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters as set forth in Section 208 of Executive Order 14008, 86 Fed. Reg. 7619, 7624-25 (Jan. 27, 2021) as to all eligible lands, both onshore, and offshore.
Additionally, said Agency Defendants shall be ENJOINED and RESTRAINED from implementing said Pause, with respect to Lease Sale 257, Lease Sale 258, and all eligible lands onshore. This preliminary injunction shall remain in effect pending the final resolution of this case, or until further orders from this Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, or the United States Supreme Court. No security bond shall be required under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65.
What is unclear about what was in the above injunction that suddenly grants the Executive Branch the monarchical power to be "above the law" and ignore a federal court ruling -
