Environmentalists applauded late Wednesday after a federal appeals court blocked a Trump-appointed judge’s order barring the Biden administration from considering the future costs of climate damage in its rulemaking and public projects.
In March 2021, a coalition of 10 Republican attorneys general sued the Biden administration over a White House directive instructing federal agencies to factor the “social cost of greenhouse gases” into their policymaking decisions, from new pollution regulations to drilling on public lands.
Last month, a federal judge in Louisiana sided with the Republicans, issuing a sweeping injunction prohibiting the Biden administration from factoring the cost of carbon — which it pegged at $51 per ton — into its policy moves. The Trump administration, by contrast, contended that each ton of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere in 2020 would only cause roughly $1 to $7 in economic damages.
The Wednesday ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit stayed the Louisiana judge’s injunction, allowing the Biden administration to continue using the $51-per-ton metric — a figure based on Obama-era assessments that some researchers and climate advocates say don’t account for the full scope of emissions damage.
One recent analysis estimated that the actual social cost of carbon dioxide — from negative health impacts to destroyed homes — is at least 15 times the number adopted by the Biden administration.
Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said in a statement that “this common-sense decision simply allows the government to continue its usual consideration of the costs of climate damage.”
“But we need a lot more than that from the Biden administration,” Siegel added. “When it comes to the climate, Biden can’t continue business as usual. He has to meet this international crisis with bold executive action that speeds the transition to renewable energy and away from dangerous fossil fuels.”
Breaking Climate Law News: 5th Circuit stays injunction issued by Trump judge in lower court against gov't use of "social cost of carbon." This means gov't can resume use of this metric, which estimates the cost of the damage caused by each ton of carbon dioxide emitted. pic.twitter.com/kr7TwWqcQD
— KassieSiegel (@KassieSiegel) March 16, 2022
Last month, in response to the Louisiana judge’s injunction, the Biden administration temporarily suspended the approval process for new drilling leases on public lands and waters. Prior to the pause, the Biden administration had approved more permits for new oil and gas drilling on public lands than the Trump administration did during its first year in power.
The Washington Post reported that the federal appeals court’s ruling Wednesday “raises questions about whether Biden officials will restart federal oil and gas leasing.” The administration is facing fresh pressure from congressional Republicans, right-wing Democrats, and the fossil fuel industry to ramp up domestic oil production amid fears of a supply shortage caused by Russia’s assault on Ukraine.
“Last month, the Interior Department delayed decisions on new drilling, including a large lease sale of more than 170,000 acres in Wyoming that had been planned for this spring,” the Post noted. “An Interior Department spokesperson said officials are reviewing the [appeals court’s] decision.”
Hana Vizcarra, an attorney for Earthjustice, said in a statement Wednesday that the federal court’s ruling “sent a strong message that the rule of law cannot be short-circuited to score political victories.”
“It puts the government back on track to address and assess climate change,” Vizcarra added.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 464 new monthly donors in the next 8 days.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy