The Trump administration will share a lectern with the oil and gas industry when the Supreme Court takes up a bid next month to quash a legal dispute over liability for restoring Louisiana’s eroding coastline.
Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish, scheduled for argument on Jan. 12, centers on the fossil fuel industry’s effort to move a swath of lawsuits against it from state to federal court, where energy companies believe they are more likely to prevail.
The federal government has argued the companies’ request to transfer the cases under the federal officer removal statute is appropriate and the federal government “has a substantial interest in the proper interpretation of that statute.”
In a list of orders issued Monday, the court agreed the government will be given 10 minutes to make its case, along with 20 minutes for the oil and gas companies. Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana, which has led dozens of lawsuits against the oil majors, will have 30 minutes for arguments.
