A court briefing filed by the U.S. Department of the Interior outlines the next steps in the gas and oil leasing program.
The United States appealed the preliminary injunction entered by the district court in Louisiana v. Biden, which enjoined the Department of the Interior from implementing the pause in new federal oil and gas leasing as set forth in Section 208 of Executive Order 14008, according to a press release.
The federal onshore and offshore oil and gas leasing program will continue as required by the district court while the government’s appeal is pending, the release said.
"In complying with the district court’s injunction, the Interior Department will continue to exercise the authority and discretion provided under law to conduct leasing in a manner that fulfills Interior’s legal responsibilities, including to take into account the programs’ documented deficiencies," the press release said.
The Bureau of Land Management listed hundreds of thousands of acres identified for oil and gas leasing, according to CPR News. This includes 119 parcels of public land in Colorado encompassing nearly 142,000 acres, according to the bureau’s list of potential lease sales.
"Considering the climate is heading down a catastrophic, unsustainable path, stopping new oil and gas leasing that would lock in decades of fossil fuel extraction is the least Biden could do," Nicole Ghio, the organization’s senior fossil fuels program manager, said in a statement.
