Environmental Team Resolves Coastal Restoration Case on Behalf of Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

Fishman Haygood’s Environmental Litigation team successfully resolved a significant coastal wetlands case involving the Elmer’s Island Wildlife Refuge in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, on behalf of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF).

Blair Schilling led the Fishman Haygood team, which included Jim Swanson, Lance McCardle, Tad Bartlett, Julie Meaders, Isabel Englehart, and Zoe Vogel. Jones Swanson Huddell and Clayton Fruge Law served as co-counsel on the matter.

The case arose from damage to more than a thousand acres of coastal marshlands within the Elmer’s Island Wildlife Refuge, which is managed by the LDWF and co-owned by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission. The refuge provides critical habitat for fish and wildlife and serves vital ecological functions, including storm protection and public recreation. Over time, numerous canals were dredged across the property for the installation of oil and gas pipelines. The pipeline companies’ failure to properly maintain those canals and related infrastructure violated right-of-way agreements and caused significant destruction of the surrounding marshlands.

LDWF filed suit to require the pipeline companies to honor their contractual obligations to safeguard and restore the coastal wetlands they damaged, acting both on its own behalf and as the designated agent of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission.

Fishman Haygood attorneys regularly represent private landowners and government entities in complex environmental and coastal restoration litigation throughout Louisiana, including matters involving land loss, erosion, and damage caused by oil and gas and pipeline activities. Read more about the firm’s Environmental Group here.