by Thomas Catenacci
The Supreme Court denied a petition from 10 Republican-led states Thursday requesting it to block a key Biden administration climate policy.
The decision ensures that President Joe Biden’s so-called “social cost” of carbon policy — which assigns an estimated dollar value or cost to every ton of carbon emissions, according to the Government Accountability Office — can remain in place and be used for future federal permitting processes. The high court rejected states’ April 27 petition without giving a reason or listing which justices opposed it, according to a one-page filing published on the Supreme Court docket.
The 10 states, led by Republican Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, had argued the policy was an example of executive overreach and required congressional approval in their lawsuit challenging it in April 2021.
“Joe Biden is bypassing our elected representatives to impose the Left’s radical, self-defeating green agenda on the American economy and people,” Landry said in a statement on April 22, 2021. “This ‘social cost’ overreach revives an Obama-era scheme that unnecessarily forces the monetary cost of a global issue on American governments, businesses, and families.”
A federal judge for the District Court for the Western District of Louisiana sided with the coalition of Republican states, ruling on Feb. 11 that the policy would harm Americans. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit nixed that ruling, saying the states lacked standing to challenge the policy.
Landry then appealed to the Supreme Court in an attempt to kill the policy for good.
Following the lower court ruling, the Department of the Interior (DOI) signaled it would delay or cancel oil and gas lease sales, saying it would be forced to reassess the program. The agency then said it would resume planning for the program in response to the appeals panel ruling.
The DOI referred The Daily Caller News Foundation to the White House which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Landry’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Thomas Catenacci is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Joe Biden” by The White House. Background Photo “U.S. Supreme Court” by Bill Mason.
