(The Center Square) – Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on Thursday signed into law the Louisiana Energy Protection Act, legislation aimed at shielding energy producers and other industries around the state against lawsuits claiming damages from climate change.
The governor said the law is effectively “closing the door to frivolous litigation” filed against Louisiana companies.
“In signing that bill, basically it says that people can’t theorize the fact that climate change is manmade and then take that as a theory and hold those companies that are producing energy liable for that,” Landry said at a news conference.
Sponsored by Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, chairman of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee the law bars civil lawsuits filed in Louisiana state courts seeking personal injury, property, or economic damages tied to greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change.
House Bill 804 moved through the state legislature in the 2026 session, passing 31-3 in the Senate and 92-5 in the House before being sent to the governor’s desk for signature.
Lawsuits are still allowed in Louisiana state courts if a company violates government-mandated emission caps, workplace safety standards, or the explicit terms of its environmental permits.
The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, or LMOGA, President Tommy Faucheux said the law’s passage is one of the signature accomplishments of the past legislative session, which ended June 1.
“This legislation was an important step to prevent the national trend of climate change lawsuits from coming to Louisiana while also chipping away at our state’s own destructive litigation climate,” said Faucheux.
During testimony in committee hearings, Geymann said states like Oklahoma and Utah are adopting similar laws. When writing the legislation, Geymann said he looked at bills in those states for guidance to proactively block “climate lawfare” before it could paralyze Louisiana’s economy.
“The purpose is to prevent lawsuits against fossil fuel companies, against people, against businesses, against government agencies, against nonprofits, for a claim for damages related to climate change,” Geymann told the Senate Natural Resources Committee. He warned that without these protections, everyday Louisianans—including ordinary landowners who lease property for pipelines or oil wells—could be swept up in class-action lawsuits filed by environmental activists.
Environmental advocacy groups argued in committee testimony that the legislation goes too far in shielding corporate polluters. Opponents, including the Sierra Club’s Delta Chapter in New Orleans, contended the law unfairly strips local communities and coastal parishes of their legal right to hold large industries financially accountable for the economic impacts of rising sea levels and intensifying gulf storms.
The final legislation drew broad support from business and industrial leaders across the state, backed heavily by oil producers and natural gas processors, chemical manufacturers, agricultural groups, trucking companies, and timber and cattle associations.
