Supreme court sides with oil and gas firms in Louisiana coastal damage fight

The Supreme Court handed a win on Friday to oil and gas companies fighting lawsuits over coastal land loss and environmental degradation in Louisiana.The 8-0 procedural decision gives the companies a new day in federal court after a state jury ordered Chevron to pay upward of $740m to clean up damage to the state’s coastline, one of multiple similar lawsuits.Backed by the Trump administration, the companies argued the case belongs in federal court because they began oil production and refining during the second world war as US contractors. They deny responsibility for land loss in Louisiana and say it is wrong to sue them for what they did before state environmental regulations were in place.Louisiana’s coastal parishes have lost more than 2,000 sq miles (5,180 sq km) of land over the past century, according to the US Geological Survey, which has also identified oil and gas infrastructure as a significant cause. The state could lose an additional 3,000 sq miles (7,770 sq km) in the coming decades, its coastal protection agency has warned.The Republican governor, Jeff Landry, backed the lawsuits when he was attorney general, despite being a longtime oil and gas industry supporter. Attorneys for local Louisiana leaders say the Supreme Court appeal was a stalling tactic.The companies appealed to the high court after jurors in Plaquemines parish – a sliver of land straddling the Mississippi River into the Gulf – found that energy giant Texaco, acquired by Chevron in 2001, had for decades violated Louisiana regulations governing coastal resources by failing to restore wetlands affected by dredging canals, drilling wells and billions of gallons of wastewater dumped into the marsh.The case is one of dozens of lawsuits filed in 2013 alleging oil giants including Chevron and Exxon violated state environmental laws for decades.The companies asked the justices to overturn a 2024 decision from the US court of appeals for the fifth circuit that allowed the suit to stay in state court.Justice Samuel Alito recused himself from the case, saying he had financial ties to ConocoPhillips. He had recused himself from other cases due to his stock holdings.