PIERRE, S.D. – Governor Kristi Noem has joined Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and 8 other state attorneys general in suing to prevent the Biden Administration from establishing a damages value to the “social cost of greenhouse gases,” which would kill thousands of American jobs and impose more burdens and harms to the American people.”
“After a year of misguided lockdowns in response to the COVID pandemic, the last thing that America needs is more burdensome regulation that will cripple our economy,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “President Biden’s attempt to implement a ‘social cost of greenhouse gases’ value will result in government sticking their hands into virtually every aspect of our day-to-day lives. With this lawsuit, we are committed to fighting off such unconstitutional overreach.”
In a recent Executive Order, President Biden established a “working group” to establish a damages value based upon global environmental damages from climate changes. This value would be called the “social cost of carbon,” as well as methane and nitrous oxide. Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are by-products of everyday activities in America, because they are among the most common and prevalent by-products of human economic activity. The President further required federal agencies to immediately begin applying such value in regulatory actions and other decision-making.
The Biden executive fiat has wide-ranging impacts on decisions made by virtually every federal agency, including the Departments of Interior, Commerce, Energy, Transportation, Environmental Protection, Defense, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and the U.S. Treasury. These values have the ability to fundamentally transform the entire regulatory structure of the federal government and that could have devastating impacts on the lives of everyday Americans.
In addition to Louisiana and South Dakota – the following states joined in the lawsuit: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
