Small Wins Count
Given the aggression with which the Trump administration is both rolling back environmental protection and killing anything whatsoever that came from the Obama era, it’s easy to assume that the damage they’re wreaking is going unchecked. Fortunately, that’s not the case, as we learned last week, when a third federal judge declared that President Trump’s order revoking a sweeping ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans is illegal. It appears that 128 million acres of federal waters will remain off limits to energy exploration.
Craig,
I wouldn’t count your chickens just yet !
Basically the Judge ruled that when Congress passed legislation allowing President’s to make environmental some regulations by decree, it meant Congress was empowering only President Obama and no subsequent president can revoke any ‘legacy’ actions taken by President Obama, except with the permission of a vote in Congress.
Just because the act makes no mention or contains any clause to that effect, doesn’t seem to deter some Judges.
It will be interesting to see what the Appellate Courts make of such a judgement. The likelihood of this decision being reversed in the Higher Courts, is very probable.
The case lost by this administration have all been before a handful of Judges, so far all have been reversed in favor of the administration in the higher courts.