NEW ORLEANS, La. (WVUE) – A watchdog group and members of the community are asking why a major New Orleans employer is asking for a tax exemption on years-old additions made to their facilities. The watchdog group Together New Orleans says Folgers Coffee Company, with two locations in New Orleans East, should owe the city […]
Case Updates
Appellate ruling forcing Thermaldyne to disclose discharges into water upheld
A company that reclaims oil refinery waste may be required to identify the pollutants it wants to dump into the Intracoastal Waterway in West Baton Rouge Parish after the Supreme Court declined this week to hear an appeal from a lower court. The Intracoastal supplies drinking water to 10,000 people in nearby Iberville Parish and […]
Lousiana Supreme Court Refuses to Hear LDEQ Appeal
Thermaldyne is a new facility that reclaims oil from materials that are, in all but name, industrial hazardous waste. It applied to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) for a permit to discharge the water that is leftover into the Intracoastal Canal, directly upstream of the intake for the drinking water of about 10,000 […]
Court rules DEQ must force Thermaldyne to identify pollutants headed for Intracoastal Waterway
State environmental regulators must require an oil refinery waste reclamation company in Port Allen to identify the pollutants it wants to dump into the Intracoastal Waterway in West Baton Rouge Parish, a state appeals court ruled. A unanimous three-judge panel of the Louisiana 1st Circuit Court of Appeal upheld a lower-court ruling that regulators must […]
Federal lawsuit filed against Army Corps of Engineers
2019 was a historic year for the Bonnet Carre Spillway as it remained open for a record 118 days. The extended opening proved to have adverse effects on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Now, some officials on the Coast are taking action. IMMS President Dr. Moby Solangi said, “It is a catastrophic event that has happened. […]
‘Colossal bait-and-switch’: Port Allen plant’s air permit modification attacked in court
Calling a Port Allen industrial recycling plant’s modified air permit a “colossal bait-and-switch,” a lawyer for environmentalists asked a Baton Rouge judge Wednesday to vacate the permit and send it back to a state regulatory agency for more study. Louisiana Environmental Action Network attorney Clay Garside argued to state District Judge Trudy White that Thermaldyne’s […]
Doing Something About Oil Spills
It is our sad reality that wells and pipelines seem to spill oil in Louisiana every few months. Many of you have asked what can be done, particularly in Hilcorp’s December spill in Lake Grand Ecaille. We spoke about the problem of proving where the oil went and what damage it would cause, and promised […]
Hilcorp Energy settles suit with oystermen over unauthorized dredging through wetlands
The Louisiana Oystermen Association and Hilcorp Energy Company filed a consent judgment that, if approved by the court, will settle the association’s lawsuit against Hicorp for dredging in the coastal zone without a permit, according to a news release. The Texas-based oil and gas exploration company has agreed to pay $920,000 toward development of an […]
Hilcorp seeks dredging permit a year after dragging drilling barge through shallow water
Dozens of oystermen and coastal residents spoke out at a public hearing Thursday night, arguing that the state shouldn’t grant an oil and gas company a permit to dredge wetlands around a drilling site near Port Sulfur. But they can’t stop Hilcorp Energy Co. of Houston from dredging. The company already cut the channel back […]
Hilcorp Can’t Beat La. Fishermen’s Clean Water Act Claims
A Louisiana federal judge on Monday rejected Hilcorp Energy Co.’s bid to completely escape a lawsuit in which an association of oyster fishermen accuses the oil and gas producer of dredging without a permit in violation of the Clean Water Act. The Louisiana Oysterman Association Inc., a nonprofit whose members lease or fish on oyster […]
