The Daily Signal - Georgia Attorney General Fights for Keystone Pipeline as National Security Issue

Episode Date: April 6, 2021

More than 20 Republican state attorneys general have teamed up to oppose the energy agenda promoted by President Joe Biden.  Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss two lawsuits that he and other attorneys general have filed against the Biden administration in an effort to further American energy independence. Carr explains that Biden’s executive actions stopping construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and limiting oil and gas drilling not only will have negative economic effects on individuals Americans but adversely affect U.S. energy security.  We also cover these stories: The Supreme Court throws out a lawsuit over former President Donald Trump’s now-deleted Twitter account. Google wins a major Supreme Court case against the computer technology corporation Oracle. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., says President Biden should cut his $2 trillion "infrastructure" plan to $615 billion. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, April 6th. I'm Rachel D. Judas. And I'm Virginia Allen. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has joined 20 other Republican attorneys general and filed a lawsuit against President Biden's executive order that stopped the construction of the Keystone pipeline. Carr and 12 other state attorneys general have also filed a lawsuit to block the Biden administration's effort to halt oil and gas leasing drilling operations. corporations. Carr joins the show today to talk about these two lawsuits and how Biden's energy agenda will impact Americans across the country. And don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast,

please be sure to leave a review or five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now onto our top news. The Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit on Monday over former President Donald Trump's now deleted Twitter account. The case had become an issue after seven people responded unfavorably to tweets of Trump, and he subsequently blocked them. The case made its way to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. But per NBC News, the night before President Joe Biden took the oath of office, the Justice Department asked the court to dismiss the case as moot and to vacate the lower court rulings too. Google just won a major Supreme Court battle against the Computer Technology Corporation, Oracle. Oracle sued Google for $9 billion after Google copied

over 11,000 lines of JavaScript code from Oracle without permission in order to create the operating system for the Android smartphone. The Supreme Court ruled 6 to 2 that Google's actions are protected by fair use law, and thus Google does not owe Oracle any compensation for using their JavaScript code. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in the majority opinion for the case that we assume for argument's sake that the material was copyrighted. but we hold that the copywriting here at issue nonetheless constitutes a fair use. Hence, Google's copying did not violate the copyright law. Justice Samuel Lido and Justice Clarence Thomas were the two dissenting votes. In his dissent, Thomas wrote, by copying Oracle's work, Google decimated

oracles market and created a mobile operating system now in over 2.5 billion actively used devices, earning tens of billions of dollars every year. If these efforts on Oracle's potential market favor Google, something is very wrong in our fair use analysis. Justice Amy Coney-Barrick did not take part in the ruling because she was confirmed after the arguments for the case. Republican Senator Roy Blunt says President Joe Biden should cut his two trillion infrastructure plan to $615 billion. Here's what he had to say on Fox News Sunday. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party are complaining about this is going to explode debt, this is going to explode deficits.

And I want to put up what the Republican record is on those. During the Trump presidency, even before the pandemic, the national debt increased by more than $3 trillion. And in 2017, every Republican in the Senate, including you, voted for the big Trump tax cuts, which cut revenue by almost $1,000. almost one and a half trillion dollars. So I guess the question is, when I hear, for instance, Mitch McConnell talking now by, well, debt and deficits, hasn't the Republican Party, haven't you lost your credibility on this issue? Well, I don't think anybody has a very good record for

the last decade on this. I think the deficit under the Obama years and the Trump years are very similar. The tax cuts, however, in real revenue, produced more revenue. And statutes, revenue. They wouldn't because you couldn't anticipate the kind of the kind of growth we had. And remember, after the pandemic did occur, we did five, not one, not two, not three, not four, but five bipartisan bills trying to be sure we stabilize this economy so we'd have a stable economy that would pay that debt off as we came out of COVID. Now we've seen one incredibly partisan bill from the new administration, followed by one. what it appears to be will be another incredibly partisan bill.

You can't spread that blame around if you decide you're going to do it all by yourself. Yes, I suppose that's true. I just want to make it clear. When I talked about the increase in debt during the Trump years, I did it purposely before the pandemic started. Senator Blunt, thank you. Thanks for coming in this Easter Sunday. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has declined to throw the first pitch of the season

at the Texas Rangers baseball game. Abbott sent a letter to the Rangers on Monday, explaining that he will not participate in the game after Major League Baseball furthered a false narrative about the Georgia election law reform bill and move the MLB All-Star game from Atlanta. Abbott wrote in the letter that, it is shameful that America's pastime is not only being influenced by partisan political politics, but also perpetuating false political narratives. This decision does not diminish the deep respect I have for the Texas Rangers baseball organization, which is outstanding from top to bottom.

Opponents of the new Georgia election law say it suppresses voting rights, but conservatives argue it actually expands voting rights. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, as we discuss how President Biden's energy agenda will affect Americans across the nation. This is Virginia Allen, host of the Daily Signal podcast. I don't know about you, but YouTube is certainly one of my guilty pleasures. I really enjoy watching short videos on a variety of topics, so I'm always looking for videos that are actually educational and beneficial to me in some way. And the Daily Signal YouTube channel never disappoints. There is so much binge-worthy content,

from policy and news explainers to documentaries. If you're not driving, go ahead and pull out your phone and subscribe to the Daily Signal YouTube channel so you can be in the know on the issues you care about most. You can also search for the channel by going to YouTube.com slash daily signal. I am so pleased to be joined by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. Attorney General Carr, welcome to the show. Virginia, great to be with you. Thank you for having me on. It's a pleasure to have you here. All right, so let's go back for a moment to March 17th. That's the day. that you filed a lawsuit with 20 other Republican attorneys general against President Biden's executive order that stopped the construction of the Keystone pipeline. So share with us why you chose

to sign on and file this lawsuit. Well, first of all, Virginia, because the president doesn't have the power to overturn the permit that was granted by this, by an act of Congress. So on the legal side of things, we firmly believe it was an unconstitutional act, and he needs to be prevented from pulling that permit. But let's look at this also. This was a symbolic move. Pulling Keystone's permit was just plain and simple, political symbolism with real-world implications. When you look at the number of jobs that were already had relied on this permit that were already in place, the amount of investment, when you look at the impact on increased costs for fuel and energy for families and for businesses. These types of actions, in addition to being unconstitutional, are going to impact folks all across this country.

And that's, I really commend my colleague Austin Knudson from Montana for really spearheading this issue and all my other colleagues, because this is an issue that's going to impact everybody around the country. Well, and we know that, of course, the environmental groups are some of the loudest individuals on this issue, that they have been so opposed to the pipeline for a long time. So we're hearing that argument a lot in the news. But we're also hearing the argument that, you know, the global price of oil has dropped so much that it makes sense for America to continue importing our oil because it's cheaper. What's your response to this argument? My response is that energy security is national security. And one, we need to be focused on our own energy resources.

But two, here we have a partner in Canada that's been our partner in the Keystone pipeline. Great security partner, great trading partner. And we are undermining that relationship in and of itself. But at the end of the day, we want to be able to continue to grow and cultivate and and focus on our energy security. Because now, again, if this pipeline's not built, it's not gonna come to the US, it's gonna go somewhere,

and it's most likely gonna go to China or overseas. But in addition, we're gonna have to then rely on sources like Venezuela and the Middle East and others for our energy needs. It doesn't make sense. And to your point that environmental groups on the left, that this has been, an issue for them. This political symbolism of pulling this permit is simply, you know, a political

reward for those that supported the Biden-Harris campaign, plain and simple. So really, you know, at the end of the day, in other words, you're saying this is all sort of political fanfare on the part of the Biden administration, that there's not really a concrete reason for pulling this permit. That's right. And again, you look at it. look, it's political in nature, but it's going to have an economic impact to the point about the cost of energy. It's going to go up. Supply is going to go down. Demand is where it is. The price is going to go up, that simple economics. And so it's very, very frustrating. And in addition, though, we keep going back and pointing this out. Congress in 2011 authorized this program and this

this project. In 2019, President Trump issued the permit. These companies, these states, these workers, and many of which are unions. So it seems like that is something that may cut against the president kind of going down the line. It's union jobs, too. But it's 42,000, an estimated 42,000 jobs with $2 billion in associated earnings that, again, would be impacting and positively impacting folks in the United States. So it just doesn't make a lot of sense legally or politically or from a policy perspective. Wow. Well, and obviously, you know, the pipeline won't run or wouldn't run through Georgia, but how does its cancellation even affect the people of your state? Absolutely. Look, this is because, again, when you're talking about supply and demand, you're talking

about a supply of energy from Canada, there's a tremendous amount. It's going to increase cost for Georgia families and for Georgia businesses. It's going to impact everybody from agriculture to manufacturing, you name it. This is an issue that is going to impact everyone, and particularly if it doesn't just stop here. If today it's Keystone and tomorrow it's the next pipeline, whatever it is down the line, this could be an issue that impacts everybody. But again, going back to the legality of it, the president has to follow the law as well. The president has to follow a our constitutional provisions as well. Congress authorized this. The president doesn't have the authority to do that. So that impacts all of us and how we govern ourselves, whether we're in Georgia

or Montana or Nebraska or wherever it may be. So this is an issue that impacts all of us. But it is going to be felt economically, both at the dinner table, you know, and across industry down the line. So regarding the lawsuit that you filed with 20 other attorneys general. What do you think is next for that lawsuit and how quickly do you think we'll be able to learn what's next for the pipeline? Well, that's going to work his way through the system. And sometimes it takes a little while. But again, I commend my colleague, Austin Knutzen, his office and our colleagues, we're going to continue to push forward.

Because again, American companies, American jobs are on the line. Folks have relied on this permit. Money has been invested. been invested. The states have invested time and resources as well. There was a reliance on this. So with every day that goes by, more American jobs are being harmed. And so with that in mind, I hope this goes as quickly as possible. Let's take a minute to talk about another lawsuit that you filed with 12 other state attorneys general to block the Biden administration's violation of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Mineral Leasing Act. So before we get into the details of the lawsuit,

Could you first just explain what the Outer Continental Shelflands Act and the Mineral Leasing Act are? Yeah, so you've got both whether or not you can drill offshore or whether you can drill onshore. That's basically the way to understand those two pieces of legislation. And again, the bottom line, it goes right back to what we were just talking about. Energy security is national security. And to limit and prohibit our ability to tap into safely, and I would remind everybody, safely in an environmentally responsible way, it matters. We need to be able to tap into those resources and we can do it.

And the left is saying that this is intended to protect the environment, but the way we see it is it's likely one of the single largest divestments of revenue for environmental protection in American history because of the revenues that come off of those leases. And so again, once again, we have just said that the president has overextended himself. and gone beyond what he should be able to do. And we are asking the court to halt the revocation of that moratorium on oil and gas leasing and drilling permits. And talk a little bit about that larger, you know, long-term economic impact on America if this drilling is not able to continue. After well, again, it goes back.

We have done an outstanding job over during the Trump years to really focus on. a way to safely and securely and ensure that we are secure from an energy perspective. We've shown that we can utilize these resources as far as offshore drilling and onshore drilling on government property in order to benefit American families and American industry. If you are going to continue, if the administration and others are going to continue to hinder that and limit it, it only drives up the costs for American families. and it also encourages us and it forces us to go rely on, again, the Middle East or Venezuela and other overseas countries and locations that we're going to have to rely on for our energy needs. And that doesn't make sense.

Again, going back to Keystone, here we've got a great trading partner in Canada. Why would we not rely on and continue to work with a great trading partner and a security partner like Canada? Here we've got an opportunity with offshore drilling and on government lands as well. We know we can do it. We know it can be done safely. We know it can be done an environmentally responsible way. Why would we not continue to do that? That is good for the nation.

It is good for individual families. It's good for states. It's good for American industry. And on that note of the environmental side of things, you know, we hear this argument, as we've talked about, of environmental groups, saying it's not good for the environment. when you consider the safeguards that America has in place compared to other countries like China, Venezuela, you know, how can we, you know, really say, wait a second, actually, we are taking much more precautions and doing a better job of stewarding our planet, taking

care of the environment. And really, because of that, it would be more beneficial for America to be taking the lead on this instead of leaving it to other countries who aren't going to take as much care and really protecting their environment. Well, Virginia, you've just explained it probably better than I could, but that's exactly right. We know that the technology is there. Again, when was the last time that you heard of a major pipeline issue? The technology is there to make sure that there is double and triple backstops and protection in order to make sure that this is done safely and securely. You know, I would argue also, again, this is a philosophical difference and I think

it's important to get the word out. But I do think the private sector has an incentive, an extra incentive to do it the right way. And whether it's clean air or clean water or whatever we're talking about, we all have to breathe that same air and drink that same water. We believe in as conservatives taking care of the environment. But the question is who's going to do it? I don't want to defer simply and solely to the federal government because I think the state of Georgia does a pretty good job of protecting our natural resources. I know companies can't afford to have, you know, spills and disasters that occur that could impact their ability to do business and hire people to make things. So I firmly and fundamentally believe that the private sector has

incentives to do this. And I also believe that the technology that we have in the U.S. to your point is second to none. We continue to innovate. We continue to be strong and we have this incentive. The question is, do you believe the government's in a better position to do it? Or do you believe that the private sector or even the states, there's a federalism argument here. Do you think it's the federal government? Do you think your own state and local communities can do it? And again, I trust the people of our state and the people that are involved in these issues. from private sector perspective, I think we've got a good safeguards in place. And I would argue I'd put the U.S. up against anybody.

Considering what we've seen already from President Biden regarding his environmental and energy priorities, what do you think we can expect to see over these next four years? More of it. There's no doubt about it. And I think you're going to see it, particularly as you look at, you know, we're in a situation now that you have the White House, the Congress and the Senator in Democratic hands. And I think you see this stronger and stronger pull all the time from those on the far left that want, are going to continue to push President Biden and his handlers to go farther and

farther to the left. So I think you're just going to continue to see more and more. And I think, you know, Virginia, that's the reason I believe that my Republican Attorney's General colleagues and I play such an important role. You know, we're big believers in federalism. We know that the federal government's got its role. State governments have its role, and it's up to us to push back. And if Congress and the Senate are all going to be in one political party's hands and the White

House is as well, there's got to be a pushback from somewhere. And that's coming from the states. And we as the chief legal officers and chief law enforcement officers of our states are uniquely positioned to pushback to make sure that that tension based on the principles of federalism is there. And so I think you're just going to continue to see. more and more. And you saw folks on the other side during the Trump years, our Democratic colleagues filed lawsuits all the time, and that was largely based on personality. We believe in the rule of law.

We believe in the principles of federalism. You're going to see the lawsuits that we bring based on those principles. And I believe we're going to be more strategic based on the law and on what we bring, but I think we're going to be very effective as well because the president said he wanted to be bipartisan. He wanted to work with Congress. And yet you see more and more use of executive order. you've seen more use of executive orders under this administration than any other in modern history. So we've got to push back and we're uniquely positioned to do that. And why do you think that is? Why do you think that there is this sort of almost seems like newfound boldness to be willing to use that executive power a little bit more forcefully than we've seen in the past?

Well, I spent a little bit of time in the Senate. I worked for one of Georgia's senators, Johnny Isaacson, who's a great public servant. And so I've had a chance to be able to see this. And again, when you have an administration is of one party and the Congress and the senator of that same party, so often Congress defers to the executive branch. And I've never really completely understood that because the legislative branch is supposed to be the first among equals and the representatives of the people. But I see that more and more. And I think the world that we're in right now is so polarized.

that you're seeing a tremendous amount of pressure to go farther and farther. And, you know, again, when all of Washington is in one party's hands, right now in the Democratic hands, you're going to just see that tension to go farther and farther. I think it's just kind of political physics. And that's what you're seeing. And I also think that, you know, oftentimes there were folks that maybe they, on the left that voted against Donald Trump, They didn't necessarily vote for Joe Biden. And they really, when they look up, they said, wait a minute, I'm not necessarily for him.

I'm for something farther to the left. They were for Bernie Sanders or they were for someone else. And so you're seeing that pull farther and farther to the left, which is where it's important for us as Republican AGs, a state Republican AGs to provide that backstop, to provide those guardrails. And make sure that, again, the federal government doesn't overstep its bounds. Because I think there is a tremendous temptation now in Washington to federalize everything. I mean, you've seen it. They want to do it with elections, with HR1. They tried to do it in the COVID bill to prohibit our ability to provide tax cuts and tax treatment for our states,

increased deductions or credits just in the recent bill. You see it in our right to defend ourselves. You've seen it with health care. There's going to be a tremendous temptation to federalize everything. everything at this point, and that's not right. Attorney General Carr, thank you so much here, time. We just really appreciate you breaking down these issues for us and your leadership there in Georgia. Well, Virginia, thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it.

And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us the review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcast. and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening, and we'll be back with you all tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Rachel Del Judas,

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