Pelican Institute: Out-of-state money holding Louisiana back

(The Center Square) – Money from out-of-state environmental groups is funding lawsuits hindering Louisiana’s economic growth, according to The Pelican Institute for Public Policy, a New Orleans-based think tank.The Pelican Institute said in a recent report that lawsuits filed by “anti-fossil fuel” advocacy groups against oil and gas development have caused a climate of litigation and regulatory uncertainty that cost Louisiana more than $600 billion in lost economic growth between 2009 and 2024.In Barriers to Louisiana Energy Dominance, the institute says its research shows the state’s oil and gas sector’s share of state Gross Domestic Product fell sharply between 2009 and 2025, dropping from 7% to 3% in the period, while drilling and output grew rapidly in the Permian, Marcellus, Utica and Bakken shale regions that include Texas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and North Dakota.“Louisiana has every natural advantage – abundant resources, world-class ports, and a highly skilled workforce,” said Daniel Erspamer, CEO of the Pelican Institute. “Yet a network of well-funded campaigns aims to undermine the energy sector that has driven Louisiana forward for generations.”The Pelican Institute identified at least $115.5 million from out-of-state donors, including Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bezos Earth Fund, flowing to Louisiana-based environmental advocacy groups.According to a Pelican Institute review of data from the Foundation Directory, a database that compiles publicly available nonprofit financial documents, out-of-state donors directed at least $115.5 million to an assortment of Louisiana-based environmental advocacy organizations in the six years from 2020 through 2025. This represents 98.4% of the total funding that these Louisiana-based nonprofits received between 2020 and 2025, according to the institute.”This isn’t organic local activism; it’s a well-funded campaign from the coasts to shut down Louisiana’s economic engine,” said Erspamer.About $82.6 million or 72% of this funding originated in California, the Washington, D.C., area, and New York City. Major contributors to this pool include Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bezos Earth Fund, which directed millions to groups such as the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, both of which have been lead parties in lawsuits aimed at altering or stopping development of carbon capture projects and LNG infrastructure.Erspamer said “transparency is the concern” in discussions on the influence of outside funding in the state’s energy debates.The lawsuits, frequently supported by national organizations like the Sierra Club, specifically target liquefied natural gas terminals and pipeline projects. Currently, legal challenges are aimed at blocking three major LNG export projects in Louisiana that would generate thousands of construction jobs and billions in new investment.The three liquefied natural gas terminal development projects – CP2 LNG and Commonwealth LNG in Cameron Parish and Plaquemines LNG in Plaquemines Parish – are expected to generate up to 14,000 construction jobs and investments totaling about $59 billion.One advocacy group, Washington-based Environmental Integrity Project, supports the adoption of carbon capture and sequestration technologies as an “energy transition” tool but filed a legal challenge against the EPA’s decision to grant Louisiana primacy, alleging the state’s permitting plan is less strict and less developed than the federal program. The group also opposes provisions in Louisiana law that eventually transfer the ownership of closed CO2 injection sites to the state, effectively transferring the long-term legal and financial liabilities from corporate entities to the state.While the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently dismissed a challenge to Louisiana’s primacy agreement with the EPA, ruling that the groups that filed the lawsuit – the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Healthy Gulf, and Alliance for Affordable Energy – lacked legal standing, the Pelican Institute maintains that the ongoing litigation has already created regulatory uncertainty that stalls investment.Louisiana is one of six states – Texas, North Dakota, Wyoming, West Virginia, and Arizona are the others – that have been granted primary enforcement authority over carbon-sequestration wells.Other top out-of-state donors cited by the Pelican Institute include the Rockefeller Family Fund, Tides Foundation, Waverley Street Foundation, the Windward Fund which is associated with the former Arabella Network, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the U.S. Energy Foundation.The Pelican Institute warns that the “lawfare” waged in Louisiana by the out-of-state groups continues to cast a shadow over the state’s ability to compete with other high-growth energy states.The institute says a steady stream of out-of-state funding is fueling “misinformation” campaigns and legal challenges that threaten to stall at least 65 proposed carbon capture projects across Louisiana.A March report by the Center for Energy Studies identified 13 of the publicly announced projects with a carbon capture component along with pipeline infrastructure and sequestration wells represent approximately $51 billion in total investment potential.The environmental groups maintain their actions are a necessary defense of the region. On Thursday, a coalition that includes Sierra Club, Healthy Gulf, Friends of the Earth, and the Turtle Island Restoration Network – collectively represented by Earthjustice – sued in federal court to block the Trump administration’s March decision to exempt offshore drilling activities from the Endangered Species Act.The groups contend the administration’s action threatens the ‘health and well-being” of “frontline communities” and “critically imperiled” species across the Gulf.”