It seems contempt for the rule of law may be an integral element of the Biden administration's approach to its duties.
Six weeks after a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to resume selling oil and gas leases on federal land, there’s no sign it has and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland struggled Tuesday to explain why.
“We are evaluating our options,” Haaland told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee amid sharp criticism from Republicans. “There’s a lot of work that goes into moving that forward.”
A Louisiana-based federal district judge issued a preliminary injunction June 15 against President Joe Biden’s order to pause lease sales on federal land and waters so it could be considered in light of its climate impacts. The judge ordered Interior to immediately restart leasing but the agency hasn’t scheduled any auctions or rescheduled sales postponed earlier this year.
Haaland faced withering criticism from no fewer than seven of the 20 senators on the committee amid growing bipartisan frustration with the halt of new leasing in areas that provide roughly a quarter of U.S. oil production.
“The pause is effectively defying the federal judge’s order to continue,” Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, said.
Haaland conceded that “technically, I suppose, you could say the pause is still in place.” But she insisted the agency is complying with the court order and is moving forward on releasing an interim report to guide future leasing decisions ... conservationists argue that greater scrutiny is needed to ensure those auctions comply with federal laws, including of how oil and gas development from newly sold leases will affect climate change.
There's more at the link.
Uh-huh. Suuuuure, the court ordered us to resume sales; but we'll do it in our own sweet time, and we'll impose new environmental regulations that make it more difficult - perhaps impossible - for would-be lessors to comply with them and still make a profit. That'll have the same effect as stopping leasing, because they won't bid on leases they can't exploit. Sucks to be you, judge - doesn't it?
Some may think this isn't important. It's just off-shore oil exploration leases, after all - not a matter of life and death. However, it sets the tone for the entire administration. If one department can get away with this, why can't another? Why can't all of them? What happens when it is a critical matter, such as preventing us from working unless and until we comply with scientifically dubious medical requirements, or taking vehicles off the road if they don't conform to this or that spurious environmental regulation (which may or may not be scientifically valid)? What then will we say about the importance of the rule of law as an overriding consideration?
When the administration is illegitimate at its core (due to the electoral fraud that allowed it to steal office), we should not be surprised to see that illegitimacy manifesting itself in most, if not all, of its dealings.
Peter
13 comments:
Unfortunately, Interior, Commerce, and Labor posts are often used for virtue signalling and giveaway posts for political reasons. Their leadership is far from the sharpest crayon in the box...
And yes, they are stonewalling, a tactic that started under Obama.
Judge needs to take over and have the court resume leasing on old rules. Courts can’t tolerate this contempt from the Exec Agencies.
Jon beat me to it. This is 'classic' demoncrat politics...
Shades of Andrew Jackson.
"Let Justice Marshall send his troops to stop me." In regards the expulsion of the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears to Okkahoma.
John
In fairness, when federal judges tried to tell President Trump to stop defending the border, we were fine with him telling them to pound sand. It's all part of the separation of powers.
But I'm not especially interested in fairness to be honest. They're a bunch of cheating, lying, corrupt scum.
It's easily solved: issue a federal bench warrant to arrest the Secretary of the Interior for contempt of court over the lease sales, and lack thereof. Hold him in custody of federal marshals, incommunicado, until lease sales resume. Start a $10,000/day personal fine until they resume.
The following Monday, send the marshalls for the Deputy Secretary of the Interior.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
After a month, start taking entire Interior Department offices, down to clerks, jerks, security guards, and janitors, into federal custody. Same deal.
Put them in canvas tents in the Louisiana heat.
MREs only, and all the water they can drink.
Good enough for the .mil, good enough for federal prisoners.
Open the fenceline up to gawkers, just out of earshot, except for catcalls and laughter.
No filming or media interviews permitted.
Lease sales will resume in short order.
Once that's solved, take the Attorney General and the Director of Homeland Security into custody for not enforcing immigration law.
Once the knuckleheads in The Swamp realize there are three branches of government, not one, the nonsense will cease forthwith.
I'm certainly not surprised.
The Clinton Administration defied more than one court order and got away with it, so Biden's bunch probably aren't worried...With a spineless court system, including the Supreme Court, rule of law has become a joke...
How many divisions has the court?
- General Secretary Zhao Bai Den
We shouldn't expect OberMAOs third term to be different from the first two.
That judge does not even need to start holding admin officials in contempt.
An order exempting gas and oil drillers from regulation or even a requirement for permission to set up and start drilling ( while stripping any law enforcement of sovereign immunity if they interfere ), would light a fire under these idiots.
Fort Polk would do nicely.
"It takes time", to restart the leasing process, but obviously didn't take nearly as much time to shut it down.
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