After the Plaquemines Parish Council voted 4-3 on a measure to withdraw from a coastal lawsuit that threatens the oil and gas industry, Gifford Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association (LOGA) published a response to the vote titled "Changing the Trajectory."
Though the council vote was one shy of the number needed to approve the withdrawal, Briggs praised the council for standing with the industries that provide so many jobs to the residents of the parish while also admonishing the trial lawyers who are responsible for inciting the lawsuits in the first place.
"This small group of predatory attorneys have pushed lawsuits from parish to parish, abusing our legal system at the expense of the citizens in these coastal parishes," Briggs said in his article.
Briggs is confident that the Plaquemines Parish Council vote was taken because the energy industry matters greatly to the local economy and those who call the parish their home.
"The people of Plaquemines Parish have made it clear: more opportunity, not lawsuits," Briggs told the Louisiana Record. "The promise of a lottery jackpot for the lawyers involved in the suit is the driving force behind unnecessary and senseless litigation against the backbone of Plaquemines Parish (and) the oil and gas industry."
Briggs is hopeful that newly elected officials will work to ensure that business can thrive in the state, rather than encourage a poor business climate and force business owners and workers to seek out employment and opportunities in other states.
"I love the state of Louisiana, and I am immensely proud to call it my home," Briggs said in his article. "We must continue to work with and engage policy and lawmakers to ensure a vital economy for generations to come and ultimately, a better Louisiana for all."
Briggs said LOGA would keep standing up for the state and those who work in it.
"We will continue to fight to for the hard working people of Plaquemines and Louisiana who overwhelmingly oppose the lawsuits and will work to bring more investment and more opportunity to the communities of south Louisiana," Briggs said.