As Biden Urges Global Warming Action, Courts Shape Climate Policy at Home

Bracewell’s Scott Segal spoke with The Washington Post on how the Biden administration must balance complying with the law, while maintaining the support of several lawmakers from coal states and the trade unions in the ongoing environmental debate over drilling and mining on federal lands and waters.

“Politically, the administration is looking to keep moderate Democrats from coal states” on its side, said Segal. “Further, organized labor has expressed a preference for supporting clean energy rather than simply putting fossil fuels off limits. So you can see why the administration would tread carefully.”

About 42 percent of US coal production comes from federal lands, mostly from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming. 

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