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House Natural Resources Endorses Bill to Block Climate Change Lawsuits
The House Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved HB 804 by Chairman Brett Geymann (R-Lake Charles), as amended, on Thursday—an important step forward in LABI’s work to strengthen legal certainty and reinforce Louisiana’s competitiveness for major investment and job creation.
Amendments adopted in committee clarified the language, removed provisions that had caused confusion and reinforced that the legislation is claim-based—not industry-based—while preserving all existing environmental protections. The measure is designed to provide clear guardrails against broad climate-damage claims while keeping longstanding environmental and regulatory remedies fully intact.
Testifying before the Committee, LABI President and CEO Will Green voiced strong support on behalf of Louisiana’s business community, stressing that the legislation helps ensure policymakers—not courts or trial attorneys—set the state’s legal and economic policy. He told lawmakers that uncertainty in the legal system drives away investment and that Louisiana must provide predictability and transparency as it competes globally for billions of dollars in new projects and jobs. He added that these types of lawsuits ultimately raise costs across the economy and create risk for a wide range of major industries—including manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, logistics and retail—not just the energy sector.
Joining him to provide national perspective, Chris Appel testified on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, highlighting a growing wave of climate-related lawsuits filed across the country seeking to impose liability across a wide range of industries.
“This bill codifies a common-sense principle embedded in our law and constitutional system, namely that U.S. energy policy with respect to global climate change and the interstate and international emission of greenhouse gases should be developed by the federal government, and it’s not something that should be developed in a piecemeal and chaotic fashion through lawsuits filed around the country asking courts to impose liability as a means to regulate emissions.”