"The Interior Department plans to consider drilling’s effect on the climate when making oil and gas leasing decisions, possibly allowing officials to scuttle fossil fuel projects while still complying with court orders.
Interior’s disclosure came in a Tuesday filing in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana designed to show it’s complying with Judge Terry Doughty’s preliminary injunction in Louisiana v. Biden. The agency had appealed the injunction on Aug. 16 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
The department wants to ensure it’s fully complying with the National Environmental Policy Act “by appropriately analyzing greenhouse gas emissions from proposed sales,” Laura Daniel-Davis, principal deputy assistant Interior secretary for land and minerals management, said in an affidavit in the filing.
Interior’s Bureau of Land Management plans to hold an onshore oil and gas lease sale in December to comply with the injunction, according to the filing. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management separately will also hold a previously-scheduled offshore lease sale."
Bobby Magill reports for Bloomberg Environment August 25, 2021.
SEE ALSO:
"Interior To Move Forward With Lease Sales After Pause" (The Hill)
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