A federal court judge’s opinion blocking the Biden administration’s oil lease “pause” on public lands and the continental shelf won’t have any dramatic initial effects on Louisiana’s energy industry, according to those following the litigation.
Mike Moncla, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association (LOGA), said the June 15 ruling by Judge Terry Doughty in the Western District of Louisiana would not immediately jump-start operations and expand employment.
“Securing a lease is the first step of many in putting workers back to work or producing the first barrel of oil,” Moncla told the Louisiana Record in an email. “It could be one to two years from the time a lease is purchased to the time drilling commences. So the decision is unlikely to have an immediate impact."
Mike Moncla is president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association.
Even so, LOGA characterized the judge’s decision to issue a nationwide preliminary injunction to block Biden’s executive order 14008 as a victory for the nation’s workers and especially Louisianans who work in the state’s oil and gas industry.
"Louisiana is much better off today than it was before this court decision,” Moncla said, “but the litigation process is far from over. We are grateful that Attorney General Jeff Landry stood with industry here.”
Landry spearheaded the legal battle against Biden’s order, which reflects the administration’s emphasis on carbon-neutral energy policies, by filing the lawsuit on behalf of 13 states.
During public hearings, officials testifying for the federal government said no existing lease had been canceled as a result of the moratorium, but the judge concluded that the plaintiff states were likely to prove that auctions of oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska were in fact halted due to the executive order, creating negative economic consequences for states.
Louisiana’s energy industry has been hit hard by the pandemic and is now hoping to take steps to recover, according to Moncla.
“If President Biden wants to truly enact policies that get this nation back on track, he should join the industry’s efforts in modernizing clean energy practices while maintaining a prosperous economy,” he said in a previous statement.
The oil leasing process can now move forward pending further court decisions on the merits of Landry’s litigation. The Louisiana attorney general argues that only Congress, and not the president, has the statutory authority to suspend oil leasing.