While New Orleans Parish seeks to sue the energy companies for alleged damage to the state’s coastline, pro-business groups speculate the litigation could cause economic damage to the state.
In an interview, coastal reporter for WWNO-FM radio Tegan Wendland explained how the alleged damage has taken place due to channels that the energy industry dug years ago.
“Louisiana’s entire coast is sinking and washing away and one of the reasons is...there’s a lot more drilling out in the Gulf of Mexico, but there used to be a lot of rigs closer inland and to get to those rigs the past hundred years or so, companies dug these channels through these marshes and saltwater got into those and eroded them and that’s contributed by some accounts up to 90 percent of the land loss that we have experienced here so far,” Wendland said.
Louisiana Association of Business and Industry said the energy industry is important to the state's overall economic well-being.
“New Orleans, and the State of Louisiana in recent years, have continued to sue and malign an industry that has been such an integral part of our state's economy,” Lauren Chauvin, director of civil justice and environmental quality, told Louisiana Record. "The oil and gas Industry funds around 15 percent of the state's budget, meaning when one city or parish sues the industry they are jeopardizing critical funding for the entire state's schools, roads and health care."
Even Wendland voiced her doubt that the lawsuits will result in a large enough payout to fully repair the damages caused.
“It’s not clear how this will all pan out," Wendland said. "There are a handful of other parishes who have also filed suits and they started a few years ago. The state has also gotten involved at this point, which strengthens these cases, but even if Orleans Parish wins, it likely won’t result in a lot of money and it surely wouldn’t be enough to rebuild the many miles of marshes that have disappeared."
Chauvin predicts financial woes will come from such a pursuit.
“When you look at the timing of Louisiana's budget troubles and when the lawsuits started, you see a direct correlation," she said. "This has to stop.”