Big Win for the Louisiana Environmental Action Network

Congratulations to our friends at the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) on their recent court victory, a big win for environmental and human health on the Gulf Coast! A Louisiana state appellate court ruled last week that regulators must consider the environmental and health impacts that could possibly result “from dumping fluids used in drilling for oil and natural gas into the seas just off the coast.”

This practice of dumping untreated waste water from offshore drilling operations – called produced waters – was previously permitted without prior study of its consequences. The court ruled that waste water permits issued in 2009 did not require sufficient testing or monitoring of the potential dangers of these waste waters. Though one lawyer involved in the case argues that such a review “should have been done 30, 40 years ago,” it’s a case of better late than never for the human and ecological health of communities located near these waste sites.

The case has been pending since LEAN filed suit against the state environmental department in 2009, with evidence of potential health consequences accumulating in water supplies and food chains. This practice of dumping waste into local water supplies has gone on for too long without adequate study and regulation, but hopefully this court ruling is a major step in regulating this potentially dangerous practice.