For weeks now I've been telling you about the mud-covered debate taking place in the Louisiana Legislature. Politicians greased to the gills by Big Oil dollars are now pushing an effort that would limit citizens from fighting back against decades of pollution in the oil patch. Big Oil invented its own phrase -- "legacy lawsuits" -- to describe what in reality is just the legal right of folks to recover damages from companies that fouled up their land and now want to walk away from the mess. The current session in Baton Rouge is slated to end in about three weeks. Despite a slew of other important issues in the Bayou State, the oil giants' efforts to put the kibosh on these lawsuits are near the top of lawmakers' agenda. The oil-slacked lobbyists are putting their money on legislation sponsored by a man they call "Mr. Oil" -- state Rep. Neil Abramson. Interestingly, Abramson doesn't have any oil wells in his Uptown New Orleans district, but he does have a gusher of Big Oil cash coming into the law firm where he works, Liskow & Lewis. Indeed, one of the firm's clients is British Petroleum, which speaks volumes. The Abramson ...
↧