The Louisiana attorney general scored a win against the Biden administration last week when a federal judge agreed that a presidential executive order attempting to monetize social carbon costs in federal actions was executive overreach.
Jeff Landry and officials in nine other states filed a request for a preliminary injunction against one of President Biden’s initial executive orders on global warming upon taking office. Judge James Cain Jr. of the Western District of Louisiana agreed to block the order nationwide, concluding that the order exceeded congressional authority and flew in the face of the Administrative Procedure Act.
“The plaintiff states maintain that the public interest and balance of harms weigh heavily in (the) plaintiff states’ favor,” Cain said in his decision. “The court agrees that the public interest and balance of equities weigh heavily in favor of granting a preliminary injunction.”
He stressed, however, that the court’s action did not bear on scientific issues, such as whether greenhouse gases contribute to global warming or other environmental effects. But the opinion found the greenhouse gas cost measurements outlined in the executive order would lead to stiffer regulatory burdens for the plaintiff states and harm to their citizens’ “economic well-being.”
The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association (LMOGA) suggested that emission reductions should be based on market-based solutions rather than top-down regulations.
““LMOGA welcomes climate policy on the federal level that encourages market-driven emissions reductions,” LMOGA President Tommy Faucheux said in an email to the Louisiana Record. “This is how we will reduce emissions without negatively impacting our economy or driving up energy prices. Policy such as this requires dialogue and collaboration, not unilateral action.”
The executive order, No. 13990, would have affected an array of manufacturing, agriculture and energy companies in Louisiana and elsewhere, according to Landry.
““Biden’s executive order was an attempt by the government to take over and tax the people based on winners and losers chosen by the government,” he said in a prepared statement.
The order focused on calculating global damages resulting from greenhouse gas emissions and recognizing those social costs in federal government actions on climate change. It also sought to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas industry.