by Craig Richardson
RealClear Energy
Home to some of the most beautiful and bountiful fishing and hunting grounds in the world, Louisiana has long been known as the Sportsman’s Paradise. Unfortunately, a government-sponsored legal war against some of the country’s largest job creators has earned the state a new nickname: The Lawsuit Paradise.
Seeking to blame the oil and gas industry for shoreline erosion along the coast, Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards and some local leaders have partnered with plaintiffs’ attorneys to file dozens of lawsuits challenging production and exploration operations conducted across South Louisiana over the last 100 years.
Coastal land loss is a significant issue that needs to be addressed – but this legal blame game is nothing more than a state-sponsored money grab.
A broad consensus exists across the scientific community, including the state’s own coastal experts, that coastal erosion is driven by a combination of massive flood-control projects, creation of major waterways such as the Intercostal Waterway, and natural forces that have nothing to do with energy production.
