Republicans are supposed to stand up for energy independence, the rule of law, and protecting job-creating businesses from corrupt trial lawyer shakedowns. That’s the heart of President Donald Trump’s energy dominance agenda.
While Trump is working to reduce our reliance on hostile foreign energy, unleash domestic production, and cut the red tape that strangles American jobs, Louisiana, a state built by oil and gas, is doing the opposite. Instead of defending the energy producers who power its economy, Louisiana’s Republican leadership is suing them.
Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill, both Republicans in name only, have taken a page straight out of the extreme left’s playbook. They’re allowing politically charged lawsuits that seek to pin the blame for coastal erosion and climate change on energy producers that have operated legally and under heavy regulation for decades. These are the same companies that employ Louisiana workers, fund our schools, and provide the energy that keeps America running.
This is a direct assault on Trump’s energy agenda. It’s a betrayal of Louisiana’s workers. And it flies in the face of President Trump’s recent executive order on “Protecting American Energy from State Overreach.” That order makes clear that the White House will no longer tolerate politically motivated lawsuits that seek to punish energy producers that follow the law.
Trump’s order calls on governors and state attorneys general to stop undermining national priorities with politically motivated lawsuits that have no basis in existing legal standards. Yet Gov. Landry and AG Murrill continue greenlighting a wave of litigation under a decades-old Louisiana law (SLCRMA), seeking tens of billions in damages for so-called “coastal damage,” claims that can’t be credibly traced to any single actor or project.
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So who wins under this scheme? Not Louisiana families. Not our economy. Not American energy security.
The only winner is billionaire trial lawyer John Carmouche, the kingpin behind these lawsuits. Carmouche, who recently scored a $745 million judgment against a single energy company in Plaquemines Parish, is no disinterested observer. He’s a major donor to Gov. Landry’s campaigns for both attorney general and governor. Gov. Landry is suing the very companies that keep Louisiana’s economy alive while pocketing political cash from the guy who profits off the lawsuits. The evidence is then clear that Carmouche is a potential billionaire ambulance chaser and Gov. Landry is going along for the ride.
If a Democrat pulled this kind of stunt, Republicans would be howling about corruption and cronyism. And they’d be right. But in this case, the backroom collusion is happening inside the GOP. And that should alarm every business owner in Louisiana.
If this precedent holds, no business is safe. Today it’s oil and gas. Tomorrow it could be agriculture, manufacturing, shipping, or any other industry that finds itself in the crosshairs of Louisiana’s political-trial lawyer machine. When politicians get to rewrite the rules after the fact to appease their donors, the rule of law collapses.
This isn’t just bad for business—it’s a gift to America’s enemies. Sabotaging domestic energy production only strengthens OPEC, Russia, and Iran. It plays into the hands of radical climate activists who want to shut down U.S. fossil fuels and force us into economic submission.
During Trump’s first term, we saw what pro-growth energy policy looks like: booming jobs, lower prices, and less reliance on foreign oil. That agenda is still popular—across the country and with the conservative base. But apparently not in Baton Rouge.
Gov. Landry and AG Murrill can’t have it both ways. They can’t claim to be “America First” while suing the very companies that make America strong. They can’t wrap themselves in the Trump flag while pushing California-style frivolous litigation that undermines everything Trump is fighting for.
Louisiana voters should take note. If so-called Republican leaders won’t stand up for energy producers in Louisiana, where will they? The trial bar already has enough allies in the Democratic Party. We don’t need more of them hiding in GOP clothing.
Louisiana deserves better than this betrayal. If RINOs like Gov. Landry and AG Murrill supposedly stand with the Trump energy dominance agenda, they should distance themselves from money-hungry, anti-energy trial lawyers like John Carmouche and withdraw these costly lawsuits.
George Landrith is the president of Frontiers of Freedom, a public policy think tank devoted to promoting a strong national defense, free markets, individual liberty, and constitutionally limited government. Mr. Landrith is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was Business Editor of the Virginia Journal of Law and Politics. In 1994 and 1996, Mr. Landrith was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's Fifth Congressional District.