Justices side with oil and gas companies fighting environmental lawsuits

The Supreme Court is handing a win to oil and gas companies fighting lawsuits over coastal land loss and environmental degradation in Louisiana.

The unanimous procedural decision gives the companies a new day in federal court after a state jury ordered Chevron to pay upward of $740 million to clean up damage to the state’s coastline, one of multiple similar lawsuits.

The companies were backed by the Trump administration and argued that the case belongs in federal court because they began oil production and refining during World War II as U.S. contractors.

Louisiana’s coastal parishes have lost more than 2,000 square miles of land over the past century.