A federal judge canceled major oil and gas leases over climate change
Late last year, just days after pledging to cut fossil fuels at international climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, the Biden administration held the largest oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history.
On Thursday, a federal judge invalidated that sale in the Gulf of Mexico, saying the administration didn’t adequately consider the costs to the world’s climate.
The administration used an analysis conducted under former President Donald Trump that environmental groups alleged was critically flawed.
The decision represents a major win for a coalition of environmental groups that challenged the controversial sale, calling it a “huge climate bomb.”
Eighty million acres — an area twice the size of Florida — were put up for auction in November.
Climate groups urged the Biden administration to stop the sale, but the Interior Department said it was compelled to move forward after a different federal judge struck down the administration’s temporary moratorium on new oil and gas lease sales. Oil and gas companies only ended up bidding on 1.7 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico.
Those leases will be vacated by the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia’s decision, and the Interior Department will have to conduct a new environmental analysis if it decides to hold another sale. [Continue reading…]