The Interior Department paused issuing new leases for oil and gas drilling on public lands on Saturday in conjunction with the Biden administration filing an appeal against a Feb. 11 injunction by Trump-appointed Judge James D. Cain Jr. The case, Louisiana et al v. Biden et al, lists plaintiffs that include some of the states doing some of the most harm to the environment by way of oil and gas drilling in a case essentially being argued on the plaintiff’s home turf. And Cain, whose latest injunction blocks the use of “the social cost of carbon” on oil and gas as well as worldwide emissions, is no stranger to climate change’s brutal effects. The conservative justice, who earned the admiration of Republicans like Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, reportedly can’t even use his intended office due to damage from Hurricane Laura.
Yet Cain ignored the very real threat of climate change and completely sided with the states listed, finding that “the Court agrees that the public interest and balance of equities weigh heavily in favor of granting a preliminary injunction” and agreeing with the plaintiffs that “the Defendants would suffer no harm from an injunction.” What this means is that Cain and the likes of Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming can’t stand the thought of losing money over combatting climate change, a very pressing crisis the plaintiffs care so little about that they believe further damaging the planet actually causes no harm at all. It’s the “social cost of carbon, methane, and nitrous oxide” brought forth by the Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases that plaintiffs believe will “artificially increase the cost estimates of lease sales, which in effect, reduces the number of parcels being leased, resulting in the States receiving less in bonus bids, ground rents, and production royalties.”
“Defendants respectfully submit that they have at least presented a substantial case, and are likely to succeed on appeal,” the Justice Department wrote in its motion to appeal, citing the precedent that “from President Nixon on, every President has imposed some internal Executive Branch requirement for federal agencies to assess the costs and benefits of major government actions.” Cain had previously questioned whether the administration was overstepping its bounds in considering the global impact of emissions. The Biden administration believes plaintiffs jumped the gun on even rushing to a lawsuit prior to the “social cost of carbon” being used. Another thing the Biden administration has working against it is a curious local rule barring briefs from exceeding “25 pages in length, exclusive of pages containing a table of authorities or a table of contents ... no reply brief shall exceed 10 pages.”
To make their case, the Justice Department filed a 25-page exhibit from Deputy Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Dominic J. Mancini, who declared that “by restricting agencies’ approach to economic analyses, the Preliminary Injunction has the potential to substantially undermine the purposes of regulatory analysis.” The full 25-page exhibit is below and definitely worth a perusal. In it, Mancini also slams the preliminary injunction for impeding “a variety of pending agency rulemakings and actions. In particular, agencies would be required to redirect resources to revise already-drafted proposed rules, regulatory impact analyses, and other analyses in support of other agency actions.” In Mancini’s estimate, 21 rulemakings for the Department of Energy alone would be impacted, halting so much progress in the department’s quest to craft energy conservation standards for manufactured homes, among other goals with upcoming deadlines.
Halting very necessary changes that would make for a more equitable, greener country is exactly why it’s so important that courts have justices who take environmental concerns seriously instead of valuing profits and polluters over people. With arguments for the landmark West Virginia v. EPA set to begin in less than a week, it’s more important than ever that the Biden administration look towards the Supreme Court to continue its pledge for environmental justice. Call on lawmakers to push for a SCOTUS nominee who centers climate change in all they do.
Exhibit 1: Declaration of Dominic J. Mancini by Daily Kos on Scribd