Seeking Big Payouts, Baseless Litigation Campaign Against Louisiana Energy Producers Harms State Economy

Plaintiffs’ attorneys, with the help of some powerful allies in government, have waged a seven-year litigation campaign against the Louisiana oil and natural gas industry, filing forty-three lawsuits on behalf of local governments seeking to blame the industry for coastal erosion.

Hoping to win massive payouts from the Pelican State’s world-renowned “jackpot justice” system, a handful of lawyers have leveled the lawsuits against tens of thousands of federally authorized exploration and production activities conducted throughout Louisiana over the last century. In short, they claim these authorized, historical operations caused land loss and contamination.

Reminiscent of the climate change liability suits targeting manufacturers across the country, these unfounded and unproductive legal attacks have done nothing to further a solution. Instead, overzealous litigation efforts have driven away jobs and investment from the state, impeded meaningful progress the industry is making to combat coastal land loss and sea level rise, and wasted judicial resources – all at the taxpayer’s expense. This latter impact is especially concerning now, as the overall health of the state and country hang on the outcome of our battle to defeat COVID-19.

Read the full blog post at EIDClimate.org.

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