LMOGA and LOGA Decry City of New Orleans’ Coastal Suit Filing

BATON ROUGE, LA (March 29, 2019) —The Louisiana Oil and Gas Association (LOGA) and the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association (LMOGA) issued the following statements in response to the City of New Orleans filling a Coastal Management Zone lawsuit against a multitude of oil and gas companies.

“With the filing of this lawsuit, the City of New Orleans sends a message to oil and gas they’re closed for business,” said Tyler Gray, President of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. “Unnecessary legal tactics threaten the community investment and cultural support the industry has provided for over a century, which they can now potentially lose, as they wait for several years, as other parishes in the state have, for this to work its way through the judicial process. LMOGA vehemently disagrees with the decision to outsource responsibility for enforcing state and local permitting laws to private lawyers. With this decision, New Orleans disregards our environmental stewardship, relying on profit motivated lawsuits to make a quick buck.”

“It is unfortunate to see the City of New Orleans bow to the administration’s pressure for more self-serving lawsuits,” said Gifford Briggs, President of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association. “These lawsuits are nothing more than a trial lawyer’s version of Hadacol; they promise snake oil to heal all your ailments, but do nothing other than line the peddlers’ pockets. Ever since the first parish lawsuit was filed, the lawyers have promised a pot of gold to every local government across coastal Louisiana. Seven years later nothing has happened to protect Louisiana’s coast. There is no reason why Louisiana should be outsourcing the protection of its coast to a few lawyers whose only interest is in padding their bank accounts. It is long past time that the litigation is put on the back burner and state government take back the responsibility it is granted in the Coastal Zone Program.”