[20210721]LSB10627_未暂停：地区法院禁止拜登政府“暂停”联邦土地上的石油和天然气租赁.pdf

CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Unpaused: District Court Enjoins Biden Administration from “Pausing” Oil and Gas Leasing on Federal Land July 21, 2021 The President and the Secretary of the Interior have broad authority to administer oil and natural gas exploration and production on federal lands, but that authority has some limits. A federal judge in the Western District of Louisiana articulated one such limit last week, when the court enjoined the implementation of a so-called “pause” in federal oil and gas leasing. The Biden Administration had ordered that “pause” in Section 208 of Executive Order 14008, an expansive executive order to address climate change issued in late January 2021. Section 208 directed the Secretary of the Interior to “pause new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters pending completion of a comprehensive review and reconsideration of Federal oil and gas permitting and leasing practices.” The Order specified that the review should look at the “potential climate and other impacts associated with oil and gas activities on public lands or in offshore waters.” This “pause”