UPDATE ON SUPREME COURT 2014 SESSION

By TONI ELLINGTON

On October 20, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected certiorari in Case No. 13-1424, filed by Plaquemines, Orleans, St. Charles, St. Bernard, Terrebonne, Jefferson, Iberia, St. Mary, St. Tammany, and Cameron Parishes in Louisiana over wildlife damages from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  The denial was without comment.  The ruling in Louisiana ex rel. Charles J. Ballay, District Attorney for the Parish of Plaquemines, et al. v. B P Exploration & Production, Inc., et al. leaves in place lower court rulings that dismissed the lawsuits filed by the Parishes against BP and other companies involved in the oil spill over damage to wildlife.

The cases brought by the respective Parishes were brought under the Louisiana Wildlife Protection Statute, La. R.S. 56:40.1, et seq.  The Parishes claimed that the savings provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, 33 U.S.C. §2718(c), and the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §1321(o)(1), allowed them to seek separate penalties under the Louisiana Wildlife Protection Act.  The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled that the claims brought by the Parishes were preempted by the Clean Water Act pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in International Paper v. Ouellette, 479 U.S. 481 (1987).  The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling.

In other environmental cases pending before the Supreme Court, conference is set for October 31, 2014, in Case No. 220142, Florida v. Georgia, which addresses whether the State of Florida is entitled to equitable apportionment of the waters of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin.  Conference is set for November 14, 2014, on Case No. 14-47, Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, which asks the Supreme Court to decide whether the EPA can regulate emissions without considering costs to the regulated industries in setting the emissions levels.

For more information, contact Toni Ellington at (504) 599-8500.