Oil giants settle first of Louisiana coastal suits; value of Cameron Parish deal unknown

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Cameron Parish and the state of Louisiana have reached what could be a landmark settlement with the oil giants BP, Shell and Hilcorp in the first such deal in the 40-plus lawsuits filed by parishes seeking billions of dollars of compensation for coastal wetland damages caused by oil and gas operations.

The parties informed 38th Judicial District Court Judge Penelope Richard on Monday morning that a settlement had been reached, according to Richard's court clerk. Richard had been scheduled to oversee jury selection in the case on Monday.

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No information was released about whether the settlement will require the companies to restore damaged property in the East and West Hackberry oil fields -- located on the west side of the Calcasieu River just south of the Calcasieu Parish-Cameron Parish border -- or whether the companies will pay financial damages, or the value of either.

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"The parties have confidentially settled, but we do not yet have executed settlement documents that we can release," said Blake Canfield, executive counsel for the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. "I’m afraid I can’t provide much more information at this time."

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The Cameron settlement follows a series of attempts by dozens of oil companies to move it and all the other parish suits to federal courts, where they would have been tried under federal laws that the oil companies felt would be more favorable to them.

All of those challenges were rejected, however, ending in February with a Supreme Court decision to decline to hear additional appeals.

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