AUSTIN – A federal judge in Louisiana sided with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and 12 other plaintiff states in a Louisiana-led lawsuit, issuing a permanent injunction against the Biden Administration’s illegal moratorium on oil and gas leasing on federal public lands and offshore waters.
The permanent injunction comes after Attorney General Paxton joined the lawsuit in 2021 and successfully obtained a preliminary injunction last year.
As high energy costs and skyrocketing inflation continue to crush American families, the Biden Administration’s moratorium would only have increased the suffering. This all-out assault against oil and natural gas production would have killed good-paying jobs and increased consumer energy costs, all while decreasing funds that could be used for the restoration of state coastlines.
“Joe Biden may have declared war on American energy independence, but we’re fighting back and we’re winning in court,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The executive order was a clear example of unconstitutional federal overreach, and I’m pleased to see the court make the right decision in issuing a permanent injunction to prevent it from taking effect.”
In recognizing the damage done by the Biden Administration’s actions, the court stated: “Millions and possibly billions of dollars are at stake. Local government funding, jobs for Plaintiff States’ workers, and funds for the restoration of . . . Coastline[s] are at stake. Plaintiff States have a reliance interest in the proceeds derived from offshore and onshore oil and gas lease sales. Additionally, the public interest is served when the law is followed. The public will be served if Government Defendants are enjoined from taking actions contrary to law. In a time of high gas and oil prices, draining of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and looking to other nations to supply the United States’ oil and gas needs, the public interest would be served by a permanent injunction.”
