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Case 2:21-Cv-00778 Document 1 Filed 03/24/21 Page 1 of 54 Pageid #: 1 Case 2:21-cv-00778 Document 1 Filed 03/24/21 Page 1 of 54 PageID #: 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA THE STATE OF LOUISIANA, By and through its Attorney General, JEFF LANDRY; THE STATE OF ALABAMA, By and through its Attorney General, STEVE MARSHALL; THE STATE OF ALASKA, CIVIL ACTION NO. _______________ By and through its Attorney General, TREG R. TAYLOR; THE STATE OF ARKANSAS, By and through its Attorney General, LESLIE RUTLEDGE; THE STATE OF GEORGIA, By and through its Attorney General, CHRISTOPHER M. CARR; THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, By and through its Attorney General, LYNN FITCH; THE STATE OF MISSOURI, By and through its Attorney General, ERIC S. SCHMITT; THE STATE OF MONTANA, By and through its Attorney General, AUSTIN KNUDSEN; THE STATE OF NEBRASKA, By and through its Attorney General, DOUG PETERSON; THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA, By and through its Attorney General, MIKE HUNTER; THE STATE OF TEXAS, By and through its Attorney General, KEN PAXTON; Case 2:21-cv-00778 Document 1 Filed 03/24/21 Page 2 of 54 PageID #: 2 THE STATE OF UTAH, By and through its Attorney General, SEAN REYES; THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, By and through its Attorney General, PATRICK MORRISEY, PLAINTIFFS v. JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., in his official capacity as President of the United States; DEB HAALAND, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Interior; MICHAEL NEDD, in his official capacity as Deputy Director of the Bureau of Land Management; CHAD PADGETT, in his official capacity as Director of the Bureau of Land Management Alaska Office; RAYMOND SUAZO, in his official capacity as Director of the Bureau of Land Management Arizona Office; KAREN MOURITSEN, in her official capacity as Director of the Bureau of Land Management California Office; JAMIE CONNELL, in his official capacity as Director of the Bureau of Land Management Colorado Office; MITCHELL LEVERETTE, in his official capacity as Director of the Bureau of Land Management Eastern States Office; JOHN RUHS, in his official capacity as Director of the Bureau of Land Management Idaho Office; - 2 - Case 2:21-cv-00778 Document 1 Filed 03/24/21 Page 3 of 54 PageID #: 3 JOHN MEHLHOFF, in his official capacity as Director of the Bureau of Land Management Montana-Dakotas Office; JON RABY, in his official capacity as Director of the Bureau of Land Management Nevada Office; STEVE WELLS, in his official capacity as Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management New Mexico Office; BARRY BUSHUE, in his official capacity as Director of the Bureau of Land Management Oregon-Washington Office; GREG SHEEHAN, in his official capacity as Director of the Bureau of Land Management Utah Office; KIM LIEBHAUSER, in her official Capacity as Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management Wyoming Office; AMANDA LEFTON, in her official capacity as Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management; MICHAEL CELATA, in his official capacity as Regional Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Gulf of Mexico Office; LARS HERBST, in his official capacity as Regional Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Gulf of Mexico OCS Office; MARK FESMIRE, in his official capacity as Regional Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Alaska and Pacific Office, DEFENDANTS. - 3 - Case 2:21-cv-00778 Document 1 Filed 03/24/21 Page 4 of 54 PageID #: 4 COMPLAINT The States of Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia (collectively “Plaintiff States”) bring this civil action against the above-listed Defendants for declaratory and injunctive relief and allege as follows: INTRODUCTION 1. When seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for President, then–former Vice President Joe Biden made no secret of his disdain for domestic energy development. “No more—no new fracking . no more drilling on federal lands,” he said during a March 2020 Democratic presidential candidate debate. Tarini Parti, Biden Aims for Tricky Balance on Fracking, Wall St. J. (Mar. 16, 2020), https://on.wsj.com/3eqA6U2. Concerned that this candid response could hurt his electoral chances “in key states with blue-collar voters like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Colorado,” Mr. Biden’s campaign spokesman quickly “clarified that the former vice president wouldn’t ban fracking”—“[h]e was referring only to his stated policy to ban new permits for oil and gas drilling on federal land and offshore.” Id. 2. But that stated policy of banning new drilling permits contravenes congressional commands. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and Mineral Leasing Act set out specific statutory duties requiring executive agencies to further the expeditious and safe development of the abundant energy resources on public lands and the Outer Continental Shelf. In compliance with those statutes, the Department of the Interior has for decades issued leases for the development of oil and natural gas on public lands and offshore waters. Those leases do more than allow America to reach its full energy-production potential—they provide significant environmental benefits because portions of the lease proceeds are invested into vital State environmental defense and restoration projects. In fact, each year the federal government returns billions of dollars to the States and environmental reclamation projects from OCSLA and MLA lease proceeds for critical environmental restoration and - 4 - Case 2:21-cv-00778 Document 1 Filed 03/24/21 Page 5 of 54 PageID #: 5 protection projects. See Cong. Research Serv., Revenues and Disbursements from Oil and Natural Gas Production on Federal Lands (Sept. 20, 2020), https://bit.ly/3rH8D41; Cong. Research Serv., Federal Oil and Gas Revenues During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Nov. 23, 2020), https://bit.ly/3rGFaaD. States also use this revenue to pay for public education. And this revenue source has become only more vital to the States during the COVID-19 pandemic. 3. No matter. It took President Biden just seven days to confirm that neither the United States Code nor billions of dollars in environmental benefits and State revenue would constrain his stated campaign policy. On January 27, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14008; among other things, it imposes a moratorium on all oil and natural gas leasing activities on public lands and offshore waters—unravelling longstanding statutory schemes and destroying States’ reliance interests (hereinafter “the Biden Ban”). 4. Executive Order 14008 glistens with irony. It purports to protect the environment, but it constitutes what is likely the single-largest divestment of revenue for environmental protection projects in American history. 5. Making matters worse, the agencies that President Biden tasked with implementing the Order—the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Land Management—rushed to halt long-planned lease sales using an opaque and nonpublic process that arbitrarily failed to consider whether the Biden Ban complies with statutory requirements, the public good, or the procedural requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. And those agencies entirely ignored the obligation to consult with States or Tribes. 6. Although the restraints imposed by the Administrative Procedure Act, OCSLA, and MLA did not prevent Candidate Biden from making contradictory campaign promises, they do constrain President Biden from translating campaign rhetoric into an energy-development moratorium by fiat—especially one to be implemented outside the public eye. - 5 - Case 2:21-cv-00778 Document 1 Filed 03/24/21 Page 6 of 54 PageID #: 6 7. The Biden Ban fails all the requirements of the APA, OCSLA, and MLA. As a result, all actions taken in reliance upon Executive Order 14008 must be vacated and enjoined, and the agencies ordered to return to the vital work of carrying out their statutory, regulatory, and contractual obligations under the OCSLA’s and MLA’s oil and gas leasing programs. PARTIES 8. Plaintiff State of Louisiana is a sovereign State of the United States of America. Louisiana sues to vindicate its sovereign, proprietary, and parens patriae interests. Below Louisiana’s borders, and in the waters of the adjoining Gulf of Mexico, lies vast stores of oil and natural gas. Louisiana is the nation’s number two producer of oil, producing almost 1.6 million barrels a day in October 2017, when including production from the Federal Outer Continental Shelf. This represents 16.1 percent of the nation’s crude oil production, behind Texas, with North Dakota in a close third place. Louisiana is also in the top five of the nation’s producers of natural gas, a critical bridge fuel that supplies the nation’s electricity plants, among other critical infrastructure. Louisiana and its parishes and municipalities receive hundreds of millions of dollars every year from leasing sales under OCSLA, the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), and the MLA. Additionally, critical coastal restoration projects and hurricane protection projects are funded in part by the proceeds of OCSLA and MLA lease sales and royalties. These funds are vital to the preservation of Louisiana’s coastline and the protections of its ports, through which billions of dollars in U.S. Gross Domestic Product pass annually bringing fuel and food to the rest of the country. Oil and gas development in the Gulf of Mexico and on public lands are key parts of Louisiana’s economy—generating substantial tax revenue and jobs. Plaintiff Jeff Landry is the Attorney General of the State of Louisiana. He is authorized by Louisiana law to sue on the State’s behalf. His offices are located at 1885 North Third Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802. - 6 - Case 2:21-cv-00778 Document 1 Filed 03/24/21 Page 7 of 54 PageID #: 7 9. Plaintiff State of Alabama is a sovereign state of the United States of America.
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