The Supreme Court will start the new year by hearing arguments in a long legal battle over oil majors’ responsibility for Louisiana’s receding coastline.
In a newly published calendar, the court scheduled a Jan. 12 hearing in Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish, in which oil companies are seeking to shift lawsuits against them from state court to the federal bench, where they believe they are more likely to win.
The lawsuits say the companies should pay to restore Louisiana land degraded by oil production dating back to World War II.
Chevron has pushed for the disputes to be resolved in federal court, saying it has grounds to do so because the company was producing oil and gas under a federal contract to bolster domestic aviation fuel production. Under the federal officer removal statute, if a company is “acting under” the direction of a federal officer, then a case filed in state court can be bumped to federal court. Oil industry lawyers have argued that federal courts provide a more impartial forum for the Louisiana challenges.
