Oil and gas association rejects administration’s legacy lawsuit proposal

A so-called legacy lawsuit compromise suggested by Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Angelle favors trial lawyers over oil and gas companies, Louisiana Oil & Gas Association officials say. LOGA says cleanup plans should be created by the state before any trial over alleged environmental damage, which LOGA Vice President Gifford Briggs says would have a two-pronged effect: Cleanup plans would be developed more quickly, and the court would have access to state experts’ opinions as to how much the cleanup should cost. The theory is that attorneys would have trouble arguing for, say, $50 million in damages if the state’s experts say the cleanup would only cost $5 million. Briggs says LOGA’s core issue with Angelle’s proposal is that an environmental cleanup plan developed by the state might not be admissible at trial. Under Angelle’s proposal, Briggs says, the results of the state’s environmental hearing would not be admissible in court unless DNR chooses to intervene in the litigation. Angelle, who also serves as Gov. Bobby Jindal’s legislative liaison, could not immediately be reached for comment. LOGA President Don Briggs said yesterday that the compromise bill Angelle supported had not yet been filed; bills must be filed by 6 p.m. today. “Legacy lawsuit” is a term widely used to describe suits filed by landowners against oil and gas operators for causing environmental damage. A recent report by the Center for Energy Studies at LSU estimates the lawsuits and the negative perception associated with them have kept some 1,200 new wells from being drilled in Louisiana over the past eight years, translating into a loss of $6.7 billion. Plantiff’s attorneys dispute the figures in the report. —David Jacobs