Healthy Gulf v. Secretary, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources

Healthy Gulf and Sierra Club filed a petition for judicial review in Louisiana District Court challenging the granting of a coastal use permit for a methane pipeline and compressor station system (the Evangeline Pass Project) to supply a liquefaction and export facility. The groups contended that the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) failed to comply with the mandates of the Coastal Resources Management Act, including by failing to consider the project’s cumulative impacts on St. Bernard Parish and the Louisiana Coastal Zone, which the groups contended should have included cumulative emissions and related increases in storm severity and sea level rise and the impacts of the destruction of wetlands on storm surge and flooding protection. In addition to legal errors under the Coastal Resources Management Act, the groups alleged that DNR failed to meet its public trustee obligations under the Louisiana Constitution. The groups contended that the failures to comply with the Coastal Resources Management Act and its regulations also constituted failures to meet public trustee obligations under the Louisiana Constitution.