LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana – A federal judge has granted a request by states to halt the Biden Administration’s Social Cost of Carbon executive order.
The February 11 ruling by U.S. District Judge James D. Cain Jr. dealt another blow to President Joe Biden’s climate plan by ending interim estimates on the social costs of greenhouse gas emissions.
“The court agrees that the public interest and balance of equities weigh heavily in favor” of forcing the administration to abandon the calculations from a 2021 executive order that instructed agencies to use an interim metric that estimated costs to society that would come from burning carbon in environmental permitting and regulatory decisions.
Louisiana and nine other states – including West Virginia – filed a motion for preliminary injunction after they “sufficiently identified the kinds of harms” needed to block the use of the metric. The states challenged the temporary cost, saying the administration couldn’t issue such a decision without filing a notice and opening up the process for comment. The states also said the metric would damage economies with higher costs and tougher standards.
The social cost of carbon is defined as the marginal cost of the impacts caused by emitting one extra metric ton of greenhouse gas at any point in time, inclusive of 'non-market' impacts on the environment and human health.
The Justice Department said it will review Friday's decision but declined further comment.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey praised Cain’s decision.
“This is a victory for West Virginia and states like her that do not want this administration’s radical and destructive environmental agenda pushed on them,” Morrisey said in a press release. “I’m glad the court saw the flaws in this executive order and that it is little more than an attempt by the federal government to control the daily lives of Americans and the nation’s economy. The court recognized this overreach and agreed with our coalition’s position.”
Morrisey said the decision is good news with his case against the Environmental Protection Agency looming for the Supreme Court. That case is a challenge to the EPA’s Clean Air Act and the ability of the agency to regulate carbon dioxide emissions related to climate change.
That case is scheduled to be heard February 28.
“Our office will continue to protect our economy and our way of life from unelected bureaucrats who want to dictate energy policy, even when it means taking our fight against federal overreach to the highest court in the nation,” Morrisey said.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana case number 2:21-cv-01074
