Federal judge just dismissed coastal damages lawsuit against Exxon in Vermilion Parish

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A federal judge has signed off on dismissing a coastal damages lawsuit that Vermilion Parish and the state of Louisiana brought against ExxonMobil, formally ending a legal fight that ran more than a decade and opening the door to what would be Louisiana’s first spaceport. The dismissal is tied to a settlement Gov. Jeff Landry announced in June, and it’s expected to free up roughly 130,000 acres of Exxon-owned marshland in Vermilion Parish for use by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. An invitation sent to hundreds of Louisiana officials and business leaders this week says Landry will formally announce the SpaceX deal Tuesday, Aug. 25, at an 11 a.m. event in Abbeville. Read More: Exxon Suit Dismissal Clears Way for SpaceX in Vermilion Parish |

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What the Exxon Settlement Clears the Way For The Vermilion Parish case was one of 42 coastal damages lawsuits led by Baton Rouge attorney John Carmouche, all alleging that oil and gas companies contributed to Louisiana’s land loss crisis through decades of coastal drilling and canal dredging. The suits, filed starting in 2013, sought funding from energy companies for coastal restoration work.

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Terms of the Exxon settlement haven’t been made public, mirroring the confidentiality of other coastal case resolutions. It’s still not clear how much money, if any, the state will collect for restoration efforts, though Landry said in a statement that the deal will help clear hundreds of orphaned wells from the coast at no cost to taxpayers.

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Only one of the 42 cases has actually gone to trial. A Plaquemines Parish jury ordered Chevron to pay $745 million in damages last year, a verdict the U.S. Supreme Court later sent back to federal court for possible retrial. Loyola University law professor Blaine LeCesne said the secrecy around these settlements leaves basic questions unanswered. “We deserve to know,” he said of the Exxon terms.

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