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Pump jacks are seen at the Belridge Oil Field in Kern County, California. (Photo: Citizens of the Planet/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Federal Court Strikes Down Ruling That Blocked Biden's Drilling Moratorium
"Today's decision demonstrates how flawed the preliminary injunction issued in June 2021 was, and that Interior must quickly take action to reform the federal fossil fuel program," said one environmental lawyer.
Aug 17, 2022
Climate justice advocates on Wednesday applauded a federal appeals court decision striking down a 2021 ruling which had blocked the Biden administration's moratorium on oil and gas drilling lease sales--and paved the way for the largest lease auction in U.S. history last year.
Wednesday's ruling by Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Louisiana could allow the administration to reinstate the moratorium President Joe Biden introduced shortly after taking office in January 2021.
The Wilderness Society called the ruling "encouraging news" as scientists warn fossil fuel extraction must end swiftly in order to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis.
\u201cEncouraging news! We need every single tool to tackle the climate crisis and end our dependence on fossil fuels. Communities and climate science demand it. https://t.co/ONV1fOWbHm\u201d— The Wilderness Society \ud83c\udf33 (@The Wilderness Society \ud83c\udf33) 1660763089
In June 2021, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty, who was appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump, ruled that Congress had to approve the leasing moratorium and that the pause carried "a substantial threat of irreparable injury" to states where fossil fuel drilling takes place.
"We are in a climate emergency and cannot afford any new leasing that will further entrench the fossil fuel industry's hold on our country's energy future."
When the Biden administration restarted lease sales, the U.S. Department of Interior said it was doing so because it had to comply with Doughty's temporary injunction, even though lawyers at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) advised Biden that Doughty's ruling "does not compel Interior to take the actions specified by plaintiffs, let alone on the urgent timeline specified in plaintiffs' contempt motion."
According to the DOJ and environmental lawyers, the June 2021 decision did not require the administration to sell fossil fuel leases on federal lands, as it attempted to do with 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico last November. Less than two million acres sold and the sale was later invalidated by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia due to a flawed climate impact analysis.
On Wednesday, Higginbotham ruled that the June 2021 ruling "was too vague to be valid," according toThe Washington Post.
The ruling came a day after Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which has been praised by progressives for its historic investment in renewable energy and which could reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, according to researchers at Princeton.
The law also contains major concessions to the fossil fuel industry and right-wing Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has strong financial ties to the sector--including linking solar and wind power expansion to continued drilling lease auctions.
"Today's decision demonstrates how flawed the preliminary injunction issued in June 2021 was, and that Interior must quickly take action to reform the federal fossil fuel program," Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for environmental justice firm Earthjustice, told Common Dreams.
"We are in a climate emergency," he added, "and cannot afford any new leasing that will further entrench the fossil fuel industry's hold on our country's energy future and inflict harm on communities and ecosystems both onshore and offshore."
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Climate justice advocates on Wednesday applauded a federal appeals court decision striking down a 2021 ruling which had blocked the Biden administration's moratorium on oil and gas drilling lease sales--and paved the way for the largest lease auction in U.S. history last year.
Wednesday's ruling by Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Louisiana could allow the administration to reinstate the moratorium President Joe Biden introduced shortly after taking office in January 2021.
The Wilderness Society called the ruling "encouraging news" as scientists warn fossil fuel extraction must end swiftly in order to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis.
\u201cEncouraging news! We need every single tool to tackle the climate crisis and end our dependence on fossil fuels. Communities and climate science demand it. https://t.co/ONV1fOWbHm\u201d— The Wilderness Society \ud83c\udf33 (@The Wilderness Society \ud83c\udf33) 1660763089
In June 2021, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty, who was appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump, ruled that Congress had to approve the leasing moratorium and that the pause carried "a substantial threat of irreparable injury" to states where fossil fuel drilling takes place.
"We are in a climate emergency and cannot afford any new leasing that will further entrench the fossil fuel industry's hold on our country's energy future."
When the Biden administration restarted lease sales, the U.S. Department of Interior said it was doing so because it had to comply with Doughty's temporary injunction, even though lawyers at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) advised Biden that Doughty's ruling "does not compel Interior to take the actions specified by plaintiffs, let alone on the urgent timeline specified in plaintiffs' contempt motion."
According to the DOJ and environmental lawyers, the June 2021 decision did not require the administration to sell fossil fuel leases on federal lands, as it attempted to do with 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico last November. Less than two million acres sold and the sale was later invalidated by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia due to a flawed climate impact analysis.
On Wednesday, Higginbotham ruled that the June 2021 ruling "was too vague to be valid," according toThe Washington Post.
The ruling came a day after Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which has been praised by progressives for its historic investment in renewable energy and which could reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, according to researchers at Princeton.
The law also contains major concessions to the fossil fuel industry and right-wing Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has strong financial ties to the sector--including linking solar and wind power expansion to continued drilling lease auctions.
"Today's decision demonstrates how flawed the preliminary injunction issued in June 2021 was, and that Interior must quickly take action to reform the federal fossil fuel program," Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for environmental justice firm Earthjustice, told Common Dreams.
"We are in a climate emergency," he added, "and cannot afford any new leasing that will further entrench the fossil fuel industry's hold on our country's energy future and inflict harm on communities and ecosystems both onshore and offshore."
Climate justice advocates on Wednesday applauded a federal appeals court decision striking down a 2021 ruling which had blocked the Biden administration's moratorium on oil and gas drilling lease sales--and paved the way for the largest lease auction in U.S. history last year.
Wednesday's ruling by Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Louisiana could allow the administration to reinstate the moratorium President Joe Biden introduced shortly after taking office in January 2021.
The Wilderness Society called the ruling "encouraging news" as scientists warn fossil fuel extraction must end swiftly in order to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis.
\u201cEncouraging news! We need every single tool to tackle the climate crisis and end our dependence on fossil fuels. Communities and climate science demand it. https://t.co/ONV1fOWbHm\u201d— The Wilderness Society \ud83c\udf33 (@The Wilderness Society \ud83c\udf33) 1660763089
In June 2021, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty, who was appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump, ruled that Congress had to approve the leasing moratorium and that the pause carried "a substantial threat of irreparable injury" to states where fossil fuel drilling takes place.
"We are in a climate emergency and cannot afford any new leasing that will further entrench the fossil fuel industry's hold on our country's energy future."
When the Biden administration restarted lease sales, the U.S. Department of Interior said it was doing so because it had to comply with Doughty's temporary injunction, even though lawyers at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) advised Biden that Doughty's ruling "does not compel Interior to take the actions specified by plaintiffs, let alone on the urgent timeline specified in plaintiffs' contempt motion."
According to the DOJ and environmental lawyers, the June 2021 decision did not require the administration to sell fossil fuel leases on federal lands, as it attempted to do with 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico last November. Less than two million acres sold and the sale was later invalidated by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia due to a flawed climate impact analysis.
On Wednesday, Higginbotham ruled that the June 2021 ruling "was too vague to be valid," according toThe Washington Post.
The ruling came a day after Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which has been praised by progressives for its historic investment in renewable energy and which could reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, according to researchers at Princeton.
The law also contains major concessions to the fossil fuel industry and right-wing Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has strong financial ties to the sector--including linking solar and wind power expansion to continued drilling lease auctions.
"Today's decision demonstrates how flawed the preliminary injunction issued in June 2021 was, and that Interior must quickly take action to reform the federal fossil fuel program," Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for environmental justice firm Earthjustice, told Common Dreams.
"We are in a climate emergency," he added, "and cannot afford any new leasing that will further entrench the fossil fuel industry's hold on our country's energy future and inflict harm on communities and ecosystems both onshore and offshore."
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LATEST NEWS
China Retaliates Against Trump 'Bullying' With 34% Tariffs on All US Goods
"Trade and tariff wars have no winners," said China's foreign ministry. "We urge the U.S. to stop doing the wrong thing."
Apr 04, 2025
The Chinese government on Friday responded to U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping new tariffs with 34% import duties on all American goods beginning next week, intensifying global blowback against the White House and accelerating a worldwide financial market tailspin.
China's tariffs on U.S. imports, which match the tariffs the Trump administration moved this week to impose on Chinese goods, are set to take effect on April 10. Trump's 34% tariffs on Chinese imports come on top of the 20% tariffs the U.S. president imposed earlier this year.
"The U.S. approach does not conform to international trade rules, seriously damages China's legitimate rights and interests, and is a typical unilateral bullying practice," China's Ministry of Finance said in a Friday statement.
Additionally, China's Commerce Ministry announced immediate export restrictions on rare earth materials and "added 16 entities from the U.S., including High Point Aerotechnologies and Universal Logistics Holdings Inc., to its export control list," according to the state-run China Daily.
"Under the new rule," the outlet reported, "Chinese companies are prohibited from exporting dual-use items to these 16 U.S. entities. Any ongoing related export activities should be immediately halted, said the Ministry of Commerce."
Retaliatory tariffs from the world's second-largest economy mark the latest step in a global trade war launched by the Trump White House, which—despite warnings of disastrous impacts for working-class U.S. households and the broader economy—plowed ahead this week with a 10% universal tariff on imports and larger tariffs on a number of trading partners, including China.
Following Trump's official tariff announcement, Beijing condemned the duties as "unacceptable" and vowed to "take measures as necessary to firmly defend [China's] legitimate interests."
"Trade and tariff wars have no winners. Protectionism leads nowhere," said the spokesperson for China's foreign ministry on Thursday. "We urge the U.S. to stop doing the wrong thing, and resolve trade differences with China and other countries through consultation with equality, respect, and mutual benefit."
Other nations hit by Trump's tariffs are expected to respond in the coming days.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters Thursday that the E.U. was "already finalizing the first package of countermeasures in response to tariffs on steel, and we are now preparing for further countermeasures to protect our interests and our businesses if negotiations fail."
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed that "we are going to fight these tariffs with countermeasures."
"In a crisis, it's important to come together and it's essential to act with purpose and with force," Carney added. "And that's what we will do."
New Projected Cost of Trump-GOP Tax Cuts for the Rich: 'Staggering' $7 Trillion
"What Republicans are trying to jam through Congress right now is a level of economic recklessness we’ve never seen before," said a group of Democratic lawmakers.
Apr 04, 2025
A new analysis indicates Republicans' plan to extend soon-to-expire provisions of their party's 2017 tax law, as well as their push to tack on additional tax breaks largely benefitting the rich and big corporations, would cost $7 trillion over the next decade, a figure that a group of congressional Democrats called "staggering."
The analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), published on Thursday, updates previous estimates that suggested the GOP effort to extend expiring provisions of the 2017 law would cost $4.6 trillion over a 10-year period. The new assessment shows that extending the law's temporary provisions—which disproportionately favored the wealthy—would cost $5.5 trillion over the next decade.
The projected cost of the GOP agenda balloons to $7 trillion after adding Senate Republicans' call for $1.5 trillion in additional tax cuts in the budget resolution they advanced in a party-line vote on Thursday. The GOP has come under fire for using an accounting trick to claim their proposed tax cuts would have no budgetary impact.
"The Republican handouts to billionaires and corporations will come at a staggering cost, and it's unconscionable that their plan to pay for those handouts includes kicking millions of Americans off their health insurance, hiking the cost of living with tariffs, and driving up child hunger," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), and Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) said in a joint statement issued in response to the CBO figures.
"Even after making painful cuts that will inflict hardship on typical American families, Republicans will still risk sending us into a catastrophic debt spiral that does permanent harm to our economy," the Democrats added. "What Republicans are trying to jam through Congress right now is a level of economic recklessness we've never seen before."
The CBO's updated cost analysis came as President Donald Trump plowed ahead with what's been characterized as the biggest tax hike in U.S. history, one that will hit working-class Americans in the form of price increases on household staples and other goods.
Trump administration officials, not known for providing reliable numbers, have claimed the president's sweeping new tariffs could produce roughly $6 trillion in federal revenue over the next decade. The Trump tariffs have sent financial markets into a tailspin, heightened recession fears, and prompted swift retaliation from targeted nations, including China.
In an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday, Boyle—the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee—said Trump's tariffs represent "the single largest tax increase in American history."
"It's a tax that everyone will pay in this country, based on the goods that they buy," said Boyle. "However, it's also a tax that is highly regressive—the poorest amongst us will end up paying a higher percentage of their income."
Senate GOP Fuels Privatization Fears by Confirming 'Quack Grifter' Dr. Oz
The new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator joins "a team of snake oil salesmen and anti-science flunkies that have already shown disdain for the American people and their health," said one critic.
Apr 03, 2025
Echoing a party-line vote by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee last week, the chamber's Republicans on Thursday confirmed President Donald Trump's nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, former televison host Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Since Trump nominated Oz—who previously ran as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania—a wide range of critics have argued that the celebrity cardiothoracic surgeon "is profoundly unqualified to lead any part of our healthcare system, let alone an agency as important as CMS," in the words of Robert Weissman, co-president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
After Thursday's 53-45 vote to confirm Oz, Weissman declared that "Republicans in the Senate continued to just be a rubber stamp for a dangerous agenda that threatens to turn back the clock on healthcare in America."
Weissman warned that "in addition to having significant conflicts of interest, Oz is now poised to help enact the Trump administration's dangerous agenda, which seeks to strip crucial healthcare services through Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act from hundreds of millions of Americans and to use that money to give tax breaks to billionaires."
"As he showed in his confirmation hearing, Oz will also seek to further privatize Medicare, increasing the risk that seniors will receive inferior care and further threatening the long-term health of the Medicare program. We already know that privatized Medicare costs taxpayers nearly $100 billion annually in excess costs," he continued, referring to Medicare Advantage plans.
CMS is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, now led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who, like Oz, came under fire for his record of dubious claims during the confirmation process. Weissman said that "Dr. Oz is joining a team of snake oil salesmen and anti-science flunkies that have already shown disdain for the American people and their health. This is yet another dark day for healthcare in America under Trump."
In the middle of Trump's tariff disaster, the Senate is voting to confirm quack grifter Dr. Oz to lead the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services.
[image or embed]
— Jen Bendery (@jbendery.bsky.social) April 3, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Oz's confirmation came a day after Trump announced globally disruptive tariffs and Senate Republicans unveiled a budget plan that would give the wealthy trillions of dollars in tax cuts at the expense of federal food assistance and healthcare programs.
"While Dr. Oz would rather play coy, this is no hypothetical. Harmful cuts to Medicaid or Medicare are unavoidable in the Trump-Republican budget plan that prioritizes another giant tax break for the president's billionaire and corporate donors," Tony Carrk, executive director of the watchdog group Accountable.US, said ahead of the vote.
"None of Dr. Oz's 'miracle' cures that he's peddled over the years will help seniors when their fundamental health security is ripped away to make the rich richer," Carrk continued. "And while privatizing Medicare may enrich Dr. Oz's family and big insurance friends, it will cost taxpayers far more and leave millions of patients vulnerable to denials of care and higher out-of-pocket costs."
Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), was similarly critical, saying after the vote that "at a time when our population is growing older and the need for access to home care, nursing homes, affordable prescription drugs, and quality medical care has never been greater, Americans deserve better than a snake oil salesman leading the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services."
"Dr. Mehmet Oz has been shilling pseudoscience to line his own pockets. He can't be trusted to defend Medicare and Medicaid from billionaires who want to dismantle and privatize the foundation of affordable healthcare in this country," the union leader added. "AFSCME members—including nurses, home care and childcare providers, social workers and more—will be watching and fighting back against any effort to weaken Medicare and Medicaid. The 147 million seniors, children, Americans with disabilities, and low-income workers who rely on these programs for affordable access to healthcare deserve nothing less."
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