First on CNN: Environmental groups sue Biden administration over climate and wildlife impact of drilling lease sale

“The Wyoming [sale] is by far the largest,” said Mike Freeman, senior attorney at Earthjustice and the lead attorney in the case. “What they’ve done in every state but Wyoming is keep the lease sale really small.”

The legal fight has now moved to dry land.

A spokesperson for the Department of Interior declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Even with the reduction in size, Freeman said Earthjustice is suing because the government failed to adequately consider the environmental cost of the sales.

“The agency acknowledged that production and combustion of oil and gas developed on the leases could generate huge volumes of greenhouse gases and could result in billions of dollars in social and environmental costs,” the complaint states, adding that BLM could have offered less land in Wyoming as it did in other states.

“What this sale will do is lock in about 188 square miles of public lands for oil and gas for the long-term,” Freeman said. “There’s a fundamental disconnect with what they’re doing with their lease sale and what they’ve committed on climate.”

Gas-price politics

Interior’s longstanding oil and gas leasing program has been a political hot spot for the administration since Biden took office and vowed to end new drilling leases.

Biden’s temporary pause on new leases was challenged by Republicans in court, which prompted the massive Gulf of Mexico lease sale. Then, that sale was stopped and invalidated after Earthjustice and other environmental groups sued.

But as gas prices climbed in late 2021 and after Russia’s war on Ukraine, Biden has come under intense political pressure to encourage domestic production of oil and gas, despite his climate promises and goals. Pain at the pump is not what Democrats want heading into a midterm election when they’re widely expected to lose the US House.

But Freeman noted that these lease sales could take up to a decade to develop, before they can actively start pumping fossil fuel, or even come close to solving the gas price problem.

“The key point here is that selling these leases will do nothing to help with gas prices,” Freeman said.

The onshore lease sales are the only ones the Biden administration has moved on so far. The Department of Interior is soon expected to release its proposed plan for the next five years of offshore oil and gas leasing. If this latest lawsuit is any indication, more court challenges will be coming for the federal government’s planned oil and gas development.