(The Center Square) – A bill banning lawsuits for damages related to climate could move a step closer to passage if approved in a floor vote in the Louisiana Senate next week.
HB 804, sponsored by House committee chair Brett Geymann, would prohibit civil liability claims under state law for personal injury, property damage, or economic loss explicitly attributed to greenhouse gas emissions and global climate alterations.
With backing from a range of industry trade groups, the Louisiana Energy Protection Act seeks to proactively shield fossil fuel companies, private businesses, and government entities from national “climate lawfare.”
Geymann told the Louisiana Senate Committee on Natural Resources that the bill focuses on the nature of the claim rather than the defendant, explaining, “If you were a landowner and you had a lease with an oil company for a pipeline or a well, and that company was sued… you too could be swept up in that.”
“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,” said Geymann.
Geymann said Louisiana is not acting alone, noting Oklahoma and Utah have already adopted legislation or are currently debating similar shields against lawsuits claiming damage from climate change.
There are more than 40 claims across the country, with about half of them still active, Geymann said. He pointed to specific out-of-state cases to illustrate the legal theories he intends to block.
Geymann spoke about a high-profile, active lawsuit in Boulder, Colorado, where local governments are suing energy companies over infrastructure damage and rising home insurance costs they say are linked to climate change.
Testifying in opposition to the bill, Louisiana environmental and trial attorney Victor Marcello countered that Geymann’s warnings do not match the state’s current legal landscape, calling the legislation “a solution in search of a problem.”
According to Marcello, the bill’s broad phrasing provides a loophole where energy companies facing standard local pollution or land contamination suits could avoid financial liability. He cautioned that corporate defense attorneys could dodge accountability by arguing in court that local property damage was tangentially exacerbated by broader climate patterns and sea-level rise, triggering the bill’s mandatory dismissal clause.
“No one in this state has made such a claim, and I doubt anyone in this state, city, or parish will ever make such a claim,” Marcello said. “When you legislate, just say what you mean and mean what you say.”
Despite Marcello’s objections, the committee adopted a critical amendment to address concerns over active litigation. The modification creates a grandfathering clause that completely exempts all lawsuits filed before the bill’s effective date — which was moved to the immediate signature of the governor — before the panel voted to report HB 804 favorably to the full Senate chamber.
