Biden Gets ‘Strong Prod’ on Climate With Ruling on Gulf Leases

Bracewell’s Ann Navaro recently talked with Bloomberg Law about how a federal court ruling canceling 80 million acres of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico is likely to force the Interior Department to ensure it looks twice at oil drilling’s effect on global climate change.

Judge Rudolph Contreras of the US District Court for the District of Columbia vacated a November Gulf of Mexico lease sale ruling that the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management acted arbitrarily in its environmental review of the lease sale required under the National Environmental Policy Act. Judge Contreras stated that the agency failed to account for the climate effects of overseas burning of fossil fuels from the leases.

Navaro said that Judge Contreras’ ruling broadens the agency’s obligation to assess the climate impacts of oil and gas production, reinforcing the Biden administration’s climate policies.

Click here to read more from Bloomberg Law.