In Louisiana v. Biden, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112316 (W.D. La. 2021), the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a nationwide preliminary injunction to halt the president's "pause" of new oil and gas leasing on public lands under section 208 of his climate-related Executive Order (E.O.) 14008 (Jan. 21, 2021). In issuing the preliminary injunction, the court found (inter alia) that the directed "pause," and the Department of the Interior's (DOI) implementation of that pause, likely exceeds the scope of the federal leasing statutes, constitutes a "substantive" rule that cannot be implemented without notice-and-comment rulemaking, and is not the result of reasoned decision-making. Continue reading >