A group of Republican attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over its executive action pausing new oil and gas drilling on federal land. In their lawsuit, filed (pdf) on March 24 in the District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, 13 state attorneys general sought to end the suspension of issuing new oil and gas leases on federal land and water. President Joe Biden signed the executive orders as part of his attempt to address climate change on Jan. 27. Wyoming’s attorney general filed a separate lawsuit in a court in its own state. The lawsuits allege the administration’s leasing pause violates the Mineral Leasing Act that requires quarterly lease sales and sought to restore regular federal drilling auctions. The attorneys general also want other suspended lease orders to move forward in places such as Montana, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. “By executive fiat, …