Let The Lawsuits Begin

Yesterday The Epoch Times reported that Western Energy Alliance, a group representing fossil fuel producers on federal lands, has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Wyoming stating that the President does not have the authority to ban leasing on public lands.

The article reports:

“The law is clear. Presidents don’t have authority to ban leasing on public lands. All Americans own the oil and natural gas beneath public lands, and Congress has directed them to be responsibly developed on their behalf,” Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma said in a statement, according to The Washington Times. “Drying up new leasing puts future development as well as existing projects at risk. President Biden cannot simply ignore laws in effect for over half a century.”

The executive order, Sgamma said, violates the Mineral Leasing Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act.

The lawsuit argues that the administration’s suspension of the federal oil and gas leasing program is “an unsupported and unnecessary action that is inconsistent with the Secretary’s statutory obligations” and is “both arbitrary and capricious.”

The article continues:

Dan Naatz of the Independent Petroleum Association of America said in a separate statement: “Do not be fooled, this is a ban [on drilling]. The Biden administration’s plan to obliterate the jobs of American oil and gas explorers and producers has been on clear display.”

What’s more, according to Sgamma, the order would also put at risk $8.8 billion in conservation revenue that is funded in part by mineral development on federal property.

“Biden’s ban is an overreach meant to satisfy the environmental left, but it would seriously harm the livelihoods of tens of thousands of westerners and put at risk millions more as state services become unfunded,” she said.

The order doesn’t affect existing oil and gas leases, which can last 10 years, officials have said.

The courts are not the ideal way to reign in an overreaching President. I am sure our Founding Fathers would be appalled. However, I suspect they would be equally appalled at what President Biden has done in only a week to Americans attempting to earn a living.