La. parishes negotiate first settlement

Lawyers representing Louisiana’s coastal parishes have negotiated their first settlement with mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Inc. and its subsidiaries, one of several oil and gas (O&G) firms accused in court of damaging the state’s coastal area, a possible ground-breaking move to provide funds for coastal restoration. The Freeport-McMoRan settlement will result in payments totaling $100M in cash and environmental credits over multiple years, says John Carmouche, a lawyer with the Baton Rouge-based firm of Talbot, Carmouche & Marcello. Linda Hayes, the vice president of communications for Freeport, confirmed the settlement agreement. All of the money collected would have to be spent by the state or local governments to restore coastal marshes and wetlands, Carmouche said. The deal establishes a potential settlement template for the dozens of other firms being sued, including major oil companies. Carmouche said Freeport’s wells account for only 4 percent of wells drilled in the coastal zone, suggesting the settlement number may be only a fraction of any broader settlements, should they come to pass. A pair of the state’s energy lobbyists - Louisiana Oil and Gas Association and the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association - denounced the deal, calling it a win for trial lawyers whose plans were to “shake down” O&G companies for “legally conducting production activities" that followed the rules laid out by state and federal regulators over decades. The lawsuits charge that O&G companies failed to follow state law in drilling wells, building canals, disposing of wastes, and in restoring the land and wetlands to their conditions before oil and gas operations began. (Source: NOLA.com 09/26/19) https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_bb453b96-e070-11e9-be4c-d7a9572b4e20.html