Judge cites climate crisis, cancels oil and gas leases approved by Biden administration

Read the Full Transcript

• Judy Woodruff:

  President Biden has made tackling climate change a central piece of his agenda. He has secured more money for renewable energy and proposed tougher regulations on carbon and methane emissions.

  But it has been a more complicated story when it comes to drilling for oil and gas.

  William Brangham looks at how that is playing out.

• William Brangham:

  Judy, early on, President Biden halted any new oil and gas leases on public lands. but a federal judge blocked that move. Since then, the administration has been issuing permits, even exceeding what President Trump did.

  That included the largest sale of oil and gas leases in history for drilling on 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico. But, yesterday, a different judge blocked that, saying the government didn't adequately consider what impact that drilling would have on climate change.

  To help us sort through it all, I'm joined by Lisa Friedman of The New York Times.

  Lisa, great to have you back on the "NewsHour."

  So, this judge said to the administration, before you grant these leases, you have to acknowledge and look more closely at what impact that has on climate change.

  I mean, that's the argument that environmentalists have been making for years, that you have to weigh these projects against the pollution they will create. But how common is it for a judge to actually make that argument?

• Lisa Friedman, The New York Times:

  Well, thank you.

  And it is increasingly common. Just to back up a moment, because this case is nothing, if not complicated. The Biden administration last year was told by a judge that it must go forward, despite its promises to end new leasing, that it must go forward with this lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico that had been set by the Trump administration.

  The administration did. It was the largest lease sale in U.S. history, about 80 million acres, 1.7 million of which were purchased approximately. And this judge has now said to the administration, the analysis that you did, which is, in fact, a Trump administration analysis, really did not — was not robust enough when it came to climate change.

  That's something that we're hearing from judges more and more.

• William Brangham:

  I mean, as we were saying, this is all part of this central dilemma, that the Biden administration has these grand ambitions, but it comes up against both the domestic energy needs that these leases might help fulfill, plus these very tricky legal realities.

  So what is your sense, though? Does this ruling change in some fundamental way how we grant leases going forward?

• Lisa Friedman:

  Well, you're absolutely right.

  I mean, I think one thing I found today in discussing this with experts is that, as you pointed out in the — asked in the beginning of the segment, we are seeing judges — we saw a judge in the Ninth Circuit last year, a recent case in Alaska, saying, hey, administration, whether it's Trump or Biden, we really need to see a much more robust analysis of the impacts of climate change.

  So, I think what we're going to see in the future is that no administration will be able to downplay or hide the impacts that the burning of the fossil fuels developed in these leases will have.

  That doesn't necessarily mean these lease sales will go forward in the future, but there will be a much more transparent, I believe, and I think experts, believe detailing of the impacts.

• William Brangham:

  Lisa, what has the environmental movement's reaction been to this, both to this ruling and to the way in which the Biden administration has, somewhat surprisingly, granted a lot of these leases?

• Lisa Friedman:

  This decision was a huge win for environmental groups.

  There is a mixed attitude toward the Biden administration, I would say, in the environmental community. There's no doubt that the Biden administration has made climate change a front-and-center issue. On the other hand, there have also been things that have really disappointed the environmental community.

  Not long after returning from Glasgow last year, where President Biden told the world to reduce fossil fuel emissions, the U.S. went forward with this lease sale. There's also been disappointments on the administration's position around pipelines.

  But I think going forward on this lease sale was probably the biggest concern that groups had last year. And they have been vindicated now by this federal judge.

• William Brangham:

  All right, Lisa Friedman of The New York Times, good to see you. Thank you very much.

• Lisa Friedman:

  Thank you very much.