The ruling revokes leases sold in the Gulf of Mexico in the largest oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history. It says the Interior Department failed to consider the greenhouse gases it would produce.
The Biden administration came into office promising to shift the country away from its dependence on fossil fuels. But faced with political and legal challenges, oil drilling and coal mining on public lands have continued unabated.
A Department of Interior report released recently found that taxpayers are being shortchanged by a federal oil and gas leasing program that consistently undercharges fossil fuel companies.
Environmentalists are accusing the president of breaking a campaign promise to ban new federal fossil fuel leasing. The administration says its hands are tied.
