Revocable only by an act of Congress
Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he reversed bans on offshore drilling in vast parts of the Arctic ocean and dozens of canyons in the Atlantic, a judge said in a ruling that restored the Obama-era restrictions.
In a decision late on Friday, US district court judge Sharon Gleason threw out Trump’s executive order that overturned the bans that comprised a key part of Obama’s environmental legacy.
Presidents have the power under a federal law to remove certain lands from development but cannot revoke those removals, Gleason said.
“The wording of President Obama’s 2015 and 2016 withdrawals indicates that he intended them to extend indefinitely, and therefore be revocable only by an act of Congress,” said Gleason, who was nominated by Obama.
And Trump isn’t Congress.
Erik Grafe, an attorney with Earthjustice, welcomed the ruling, saying it “shows that the president cannot just trample on the constitution to do the bidding of his cronies in the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our oceans, wildlife and climate”.
Earthjustice represented numerous environmental groups that sued the Trump administration over the April 2017 executive order reversing the drilling bans. At issue in the case was the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
One is better than none.
Similar cases are currently being heard on Trump’s reduction/destruction of National Monuments, including Bear’s Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. The main crux of the argument is that a president cannot un-protect natural resources on a whim, especially natural resources protected specifically due to their scientific and cultural significance.
I hope the judge presiding these over these other cases is also sympathetic-currently the case is stalled by the Trump gov. filing a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The inter-tribal coalition and numerous conservation and scientific agencies suing the government to preserve these lands have filed their evidence against the motion. Now all that remains to be seen is if the judge approves the suit to go forward.
https://savingplaces.org/places/ancestral-places-of-southeast-utah/updates/march-2019-update-on-the-legal-challenge#.XKD0MutKh0c
Thank you. That was pointed out at the time Trump announced it, too – that legally / constitutionally he can’t actually do this thing he just announced he’s doing. Fingers crossed.