The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Chevron on Friday in a case about whether a Louisiana environmental lawsuit can go to federal court.
In Chevron USA Inc. v. Plaquemines Parish, the justices said that the case is covered by the federal officer removal statute, which lets Chevron move the lawsuit from state court to federal court. The justices threw out a lower court’s decision that kept the case in state court and sent it back for more work.
All of the justices agreed that the oil companies should be able to fight the lawsuits in federal court instead of state court.
“Congress has long authorized federal officers and their agents to remove suits brought against them in state court to federal court,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote.
The case of Chevron USA Inc
The case of Chevron USA Inc. v. Plaquemines Parish, La. was about a very specific question: could the oil companies move cases about environmental damage from state court to federal court? But people who are suing over climate change damages, like climate activists and state officials, have been paying close attention to the case because state courts are thought to be more open to these types of lawsuits.
Justice Thomas said that the oil company had met the requirements to move the case to federal court because it was about oil production in Louisiana going back to World War II, when Chevron refined crude oil into aviation gasoline for the U.S. military.
He said that Chevron had shown that its wartime production of crude oil was connected to its wartime refining of aviation gasoline for the military, which was a federal priority.
That’s about the same size as Delaware
Coastal erosion has taken away about 2,000 square miles of land from Louisiana since the 1930s. That’s about the same size as Delaware.
The southernmost parish in Louisiana, Plaquemines Parish, sticks out into the water where the Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico. The parish has lost almost half of its size in the last century because of climate change, which has caused sea levels to rise. It is crisscrossed with oil and gas canals.
The parish is also more at risk from storms, in part because levees built to protect New Orleans from flooding also cut off fresh water and sediment from the fragile coastal ecosystem. Experts say that canals that help with oil and gas production have also harmed the environment.
Louisiana has a $50 billion master plan to protect its coastal land
Louisiana has a $50 billion master plan to protect its coastal land. This includes more than 100 projects to dredge sand, rebuild marshes, and add flood protection measures like levees and storm surge barriers. The plan is to make tens of thousands of acres of new land and protect what is already there.
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Most of the money has come from a settlement that came after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, but that fund is running low.
Since 2013, local parishes, which are like counties in other states, have filed more than 40 lawsuits against oil companies, asking for billions of dollars in damages
Since 2013, local parishes, which are like counties in other states, have filed more than 40 lawsuits against oil companies, asking for billions of dollars in damages. The parishes say that the oil companies have damaged the state’s coastline over decades of production.
They say that the companies have illegally drilled, dredged, and thrown away trash without the right permits.
Louisiana Republican leaders, even those who have supported President Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda, have backed the lawsuits. Both Republicans, Governor Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill, have backed the legal challenges.
The parishes sued under Louisiana’s State and Local Coastal Resources Management Act, saying that the companies broke a rule in the law that says companies must “clear, revegetate, detoxify, and otherwise restore” work areas
The parishes sued under Louisiana’s State and Local Coastal Resources Management Act, saying that the companies broke a rule in the law that says companies must “clear, revegetate, detoxify, and otherwise restore” work areas.
A federal trial court judge decided that the oil companies had not shown that they took the oil under the orders of a federal officer and that the federal contracts had nothing to do with the oil production in question.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which is based in New Orleans, upheld the lower court’s decision that the cases should be heard in state court.
The Trump administration joined the case on the side of the oil companies and also said that the cases should be heard in federal court
The Trump administration joined the case on the side of the oil companies and also said that the cases should be heard in federal court.
