The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on April 5, 2023, dismissed the state of Louisiana's challenge to federal agencies use of the "social cost of greenhouse gases" in federal decision making.1 Several Republican-led states joined the lawsuit, which stems from a challenge to President Biden's Executive Order (EO) 13990, Section 5, 86 Fed. Reg. 7037 (Jan. 20, 2021) ordering a working group to formulate guidance for federal agencies on the "social costs of greenhouse gases."
The EO required that the working group establish a dollar amount estimate for the cost of greenhouse gases (carbon, methane and nitrous oxide emissions) for federal agencies to utilize in making all manner of agency policymaking decisions. The working group essentially adopted the conclusions of a previous working group formed by the Obama Administration...
