14 US States File Lawsuit Opposing Biden's Oil Drilling Halt Measures

[Image source= Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Fourteen U.S. states, including Louisiana and Wyoming, have filed lawsuits opposing President Joe Biden's order to halt oil and gas drilling.

The Biden administration plans to review the system of leasing federal lands and offshore areas to oil and gas companies starting on the 25th. The 14 states took legal action a day before this review.

President Biden pledged, as part of his plan to address climate change, to stop issuing new drilling permits on federally owned lands. Accordingly, shortly after taking office in January, he signed an executive order halting the leasing of federal lands and offshore areas to oil and gas companies.

The oil and gas industry strongly opposed the move. It is known that half of the revenue for oil and gas companies comes from drilling oil and natural gas on lands and offshore areas leased from the federal government.

Two complaints were filed, one each in the federal courts of Louisiana and Wyoming. The complaint filed in Louisiana includes Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia as co-plaintiffs along with Louisiana. Wyoming separately prepared a complaint and filed it in the Wyoming federal court.

Louisiana claims in its complaint that the suspension of land leasing violates the Mineral Leasing Act, which requires leasing on a quarterly basis, and therefore is illegal.

Wyoming argues that under the National Environmental Policy Act, an environmental assessment must be conducted regarding the suspension of leasing, and it is not certain that halting drilling is environmentally beneficial.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.