Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry was in Lafayette Tuesday for oral arguments over a lawsuit against President Joe Biden Administration's social cost of carbon directive.
Landry held a 12:30 pm press conference before entering the federal courthouse to push for a motion for a preliminary injunction for the executive order.
In April, Landry led a 10-state coalition against the President's Executive Order 13990 which they say improperly and illegally changes the way federal decision-making is conducted.
In the press conference Tuesday, Landry says that they believe Biden overstepped with this executive order. He says the order is a "back-door" way of trying to put the social cost of carbon in place.
The social cost of carbon is the cost of the damages created by one extra ton of carbon dioxide emissions. According to Standford University, the Obama administration introduced the first estimated social cost of carbon at $43 a ton. The Trump administration estimate was $3–$5 a ton, and the Biden administration estimate is around $51 a ton.
With the injunction, Landry hopes to help lower the cost of goods, services and jobs he believes have been affected by the executive order.
"It hits home in Louisiana. Think of the thousands of jobs created in the energy sector. The order affects those jobs," he said.
Landry says we lose more jobs and we pay more here in the state.
To combat the issue of clean energy and continued carbon use, Landry suggests that an open and honest debate should be had about resources and energies being used.
"The social cost of carbon is a gateway to unrelenting intrusion by the Government into the everyday lives of American citizens," said Attorney General Landry.
Landry claims Biden's directive would open a "pandora's box" for taxes and harm working-class families in Louisiana and across the country. Others say the lawsuit doesn't have merit.
"This is really just sort of a theatrical kind of tactic by the AG and a waste of taxpayer money," said Joshua Smith, Sierra Club National senior staff attorney. "It's not going to produce any productive outcome here."
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