ELR Citation: 51 ELR 20110
No(s). 2:21-CV-00778 (W.D. La. Jun 15, 2021) (Doughty, J.)

A district court granted states' motion to preliminarily enjoin the president's Executive Order pausing new oil and gas leases on public lands and in offshore waters. The states argued the "pause" violated the APA, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), and the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA). The court found that by pausing leases, the president was in effect amending OCSLA and the MLA, which he did not have the authority to do, and that the pause was a substantive rule subject to APA notice-and-comment requirements. It therefore granted the states' motion for preliminary injunction.