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.

Years of Litigation

Over the last decade, lawsuits against oil and gas companies have become a cottage industry for a handful of well-connected plaintiffs’ firms in Louisiana. While they claim these lawsuits are about cleaning up the environment, the real motivation seems to be collecting big payouts through attorney fees. As RealClearMarkets reports:

But the money chase stimulates the legal imagination, and not in a way that increases aggregate economic productivity. Instead, the litigation obviously is intended to extract wealth produced by others, and so no principle limits it to the various ‘climate’ arguments.” (emphasis added)

A major driving force behind the most recent wave of lawsuits is Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, who was elected with substantial support from trial lawyers. Shortly after beginning his first term in 2016, Gov. Edwards sought to engage some of his biggest campaign supporters in the coastal lawsuits. According to The Advocate:

“A group of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ top campaign donors were brought in as attorneys on a controversial lawsuit against oil and gas companies — a case that could mean a big payday for Edwards’ hired guns. The Edwards administration’s contract is with lawyer and former state Rep. Taylor Townsend of Natchitoches, who was a co-chairman of the governor’s transition team and now heads Edwards’ super PAC fundraising committee, Louisiana Families First. With the governor’s approval, Townsend then brought in six other attorneys as subcontractors.”

In addition, Gov. Edwards sought to force coastal parishes into filing more lawsuits against the energy industry by threatening to cut non-joining parishes out of any future settlement cash. The Wall Street Journal reports:

“In September 2016, Mr. Edwards sent letters to the others that ‘we have been advised by counsel for the plaintiff Parishes that it is likely that similar damages exist in your Parish’ and ‘encourage you to consult with your private counsel and file such a suit, in which [Natural Resources] Secretary [Thomas] Harris will then intervene. Should you not do so within thirty (30) days of the date of this letter, Secretary Harris will do so.'”

To date, seven of the twenty coastal parishes have filed lawsuits, while the Louisiana attorney general and the governor, through the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, have intervened as additional plaintiffs.

Despite the growing number of lawsuits and litigants and skyrocketing legal fees, the oil and natural gas industry continues investing in partnerships and projects to support environmental sustainability, while the plaintiffs have yet to produce anything of value for Louisiana.

For example, the collaborative approach supported by the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has generated more than $230 million in industry investments over the last five years. As a result, there are more coastal restoration projects underway today than ever before in Louisiana’s history. What’s more is that just this week, a dozen oil and natural gas companies agreed to lower emissions to further address climate change.

Comprehensive Environmental Strategy Needed

The ongoing litigation campaign against energy producers in Louisiana demonstrates that baseless legal attacks do nothing to advance real solutions. Leadership, cooperation and collaboration are necessary to address complex environmental challenges.

Therefore, despite previous efforts against the industry, a new state task force commissioned by Gov. Edwards to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in Louisiana could provide an opportunity for the governor to charter a new course around these troubled legal waters.

In announcing the Climate Initiatives Task Force, which has been given a deadline of 12 to 18 months to come up with a science-based comprehensive strategy, Gov. Edwards vowed to work with the oil and natural gas industry to achieve the state’s emissions reductions goals. The Associated Press reports:

“Edwards praised Louisiana’s energy industry and stressed that the carbon reduction efforts would be as industry-friendly as possible. ‘Our state economy, and the nation at large, depends on Louisiana’s strong industrial sector,’ he said. ‘We provide the energy and the petrochemical products the country runs on.’”

Given Louisiana’s role as a global leader in oil and gas exploration and production, Gov. Edwards’ commitment to partner with industry is both a step in the right direction and vitally important. But only time will tell if the governor’s task force is a genuine opportunity for collaboration or cleverly disguised precursor to more litigation.