Jindal pauses on SB 469

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s remittance of the Legislature’s bill that would quash a levee board lawsuit against 97 oil and gas companies to the attorney general gave credence to new-rising concerns that Senate Bill 469 could undermine ongoing legal action against BP filed by local governing jurisdictions.

But SB 469 author Sen. Bret Allain, R-Jeanerette, said he expects the governor will sign the bill after Attorney General Buddy Caldwell’s office completes a review that Caldwell requested.

“All of the questions being raised are about federal law. State law cannot affect federal law,” Allain said Monday. “We really don’t think that the claims have credibility, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.”

In Lafourche, Terrebonne and elsewhere across the coast, parish and municipal governments filed suit against BP seeking economic damages related to the 2010 Macondo prospect blowout under provisions of the federal Oil Pollution Act.

A scholar at Loyola University expressed concern over the weekend that SB 469 – because it was drafted to apply retroactively – would unintentionally eliminate the BP-related suits.

“SB 469 clearly lists not only who can bring claims in Louisiana’s coastal zone, but what kind of claims they can bring,” wrote Robert R.M. Verchick, who holds the Gauthier-St. Martin Chair in Environmental Law at Loyola University, in op-ed published on NOLA.com on Saturday. “Notably missing from its list are claims for economic losses and claims for natural resource damages under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) – the very basis for pending claims against BP.”

While retroactive enforcement would sink ongoing claims against BP, SB 469 could also be a roadblock to similar claims pursued by local governing bodies should their territories again be drenched in oil, Verchick wrote.

Jindal announced midday Monday he would hold an afternoon press conference in tandem with his signing SB 469. He later decided to postpone the signing pending an attorney general’s review of the bill, The Associated Press reported.

SB 469 was the culmination of Jindal’s nearly year-old effort to kill the Southeastern Louisiana Flood Protection Authority – East’s lawsuit against nearly 100 oil and gas companies. The suit, which seeks billions of dollars in damages, alleges the companies skirted regulations to cut costs and exacerbated land loss along the state’s coast.

Supporters have framed the SLFPA-E suit as means to provide some of the $50 billion needed to fix Louisiana’s coast and say it is fair to have court proceedings mete out whether industry negligence or malfeasance worsened the most expensive issue facing the state.

SLFPA-E, an autonomous body created in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, is tasked with protecting the Greater New Orleans area.

Jindal’s administration denounced the lawsuit from the beginning, saying the levee board did not have the power to file the suit without going through state channels. He has also criticized the authority for agreeing to a contingency-based contract with attorneys that could land the lawyers a windfall of cash and for launching a suit that targets the state’s largest industry.

Jindal and his allies have consistently worked to derail the suit, and Allain’s bill is designed to do just that. It scales back the levee board’s authority to engage in such legal actions, applying the restrictions retroactively, and gives the companies permission to get out of the suit. Though the legislation will be challenged in court, it provides the language to eliminate the SLFPA-E lawsuit.

The House approved the legislation by a 59-39 vote, and the Senate passed it 25-11. Lafourche-Terrebonne lawmakers – Sen. Norby Chabert and Reps. Gordy Dove, Jerry “Truck” Gisclair, Joe Harrison, Jerome “Dee” Richard and Lenar Whitney – unanimously approved the bill.

Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon. Lafourche Parish Administrator Archie Chiasson III said he was researching what impact SB 469 could have on the Lafourche’s lawsuit.

Jindal has more than a week before the deadline passes to sign or veto the bill.

“From what I understand, there were a couple of legal questions raised that the AG wanted to look at, to give an opinion,” Allain said. “The governor has decided to let the AG make his opinions known and then do what he’s got to do.”