A group of 12 states is suing the Biden administration over a climate executive order that they argue has the potential to economically impact the United States through the expansion of federal regulatory power.
According to Fox Business, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed the suit on Monday. State attorneys general from Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah joined in.
The lawsuit alleges that Biden’s executive order, “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis,” does not have the authority to issue binding numbers for the “social cost” of greenhouse gases to be used in federal regulations.
The breakdown of the social costs shows $269 billion for carbon dioxide, $990 billion for methane and $8.24 trillion for nitrous oxide, which comes out to a total of $9.5 trillion, per Fox Business. The lawsuit cited interim values determined by an interagency working group that was created by Biden’s order.
Schmitt argued that the potential regulations would choke manufacturing and harm the agriculture industry in the state of Missouri, where figures show that hundreds of thousands of people work in those industries.
“Under President Biden’s executive order, which he didn’t have the authority to enact, these hard-working Missourians who have lived and worked this land for generations, could be left in the dust,” Schmitt said in a press release.
The suit takes it one step further, arguing the impact from the $9.5 trillion “social cost” will reach further than just Missouri alone.
“In practice, this enormous figure will be used to justify an equally enormous expansion of federal regulatory power that will intrude into every aspect of Americans’ lives - from their cars, to their refrigerators and homes, to their grocery and electric bills,” the suit reads.
“[The executive order] will be used to inflict untold billions or trillions of dollars of damage to the U.S. economy for decades to come.”
The suit also claims that the action violates the separation of powers, “the most fundamental bulwark of liberty.”
In advancing his climate change agenda, it is clear that Joe Biden is willing to risk harm to the economy and livelihood of the American people.
Just how far will he go?
