Posted on March 9, 2026
By Greg larose
During his time as a state leader, Jeff Landry has managed to deftly maneuver around a massive political pitfall: dozens of lawsuits from coastal parishes against oil and gas companies that seek billions to address wetlands damage and land loss.
And based on his latest move, he has positioned himself on the path to an easy reelection with both the fossil fuel industry and trial lawyers in his corner.
The governor announced Thursday that ConocoPhillips is close to reaching a settlement in the coastal litigation it’s facing. Parties are just “words away” from a deal that will “unlock hundreds of millions of dollars” for coastal restoration projects, Landry said.
ConocoPhillips is a defendant in 13 of the 42 lawsuits. Its subsidiary, Louisiana Land & Exploration Co., is the largest private wetlands owner in the state. The settlement would provide the state with access to 150,000 “strategic acres” for its restoration work, Landry said.
Spokesman Dennis Nuss confirmed ConocoPhillips had “reached alignment … on a resolution that supports the protection and restoration of the Louisiana coastal zone.”
The potential settlement with ConocoPhillips would add it to the list of companies that have already come to terms with coastal parishes. Shell, BP and Hillcorp reached a settlement with Cameron Parish and the state just before Landry took office. Freeport-McMoRan reached terms with plaintiffs in 2021.
Landry’s evolving role as mediator between parishes and energy companies is the latest milestone in his longtime involvement in the litigation. As attorney general, he joined the fight to keep Plaquemines Parish’s case against Chevron in state court, despite industry pressure for him to kill the lawsuits entirely. One of his first moves as governor was to have the state join the parishes as a plaintiff.
A Plaquemines jury ruled against Chevron last year and awarded the parish $745 million. Chevron now wants the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on whether the case is a federal matter, with a ruling expected by this summer.
Chevron and ExxonMobil are the only two remaining Big Oil giants that continue to fight the parish cases in court. Should either one settle, it would provide an immense pool of money for Louisiana’s coastal work and a major win for Landry come campaign time.
The governor and his successor, Attorney General Liz Murrill, have worked to reach settlements with the oil company defendants despite President Donald Trump’s urging that they drop the lawsuits entirely. With the president’s favorability tanking and Republicans facing shaky prospects in the congressional midterm elections, it would be a noteworthy accomplishment for Landry, and by default the Louisiana GOP, if the ConocoPhillips settlement and others can be finalized.
The governor spoke Friday at the Police Jury Association of Louisiana conference in Lake Charles. During Thursday’s announcement, Landry said his next task was to convince the 12 parish leaders involved to sign onto the ConocoPhillips settlement.
A central figure in the negotiations is attorney John Carmouche, whose firm has represented the parishes seeking damages from energy companies. He’s also among the trial lawyers who put considerable financial resources behind Landry’s run for governor, just as they did for Democrat John Bel Edwards in his two winning elections.
Carmouche told The Times-Picayune that negotiations had stalled with ConocoPhillips, and he was on the verge of moving forward to a trial when the company approached the Landry administration. He credited the governor and attorney general for bringing the deal to fruition.
Landry’s relationship with Carmouche is already quite prominent; the governor named him to the LSU Board of Supervisors and he was the point person when football coach Brian Kelly was replaced with Lane Kiffin. Carmouche was also recently named the board’s vice chairman.
A more subtle play from the governor in the coastal litigation controversy was his appointment of Gordy Dove as chairman of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, the oversight body that approves how the state spends billions to save and rebuild its wetlands. Dove was formerly the president of Terrebonne Parish and staunchly refused to join his peers in their lawsuits against oil and gas interests.
It’s yet another example of how Landry has managed to navigate between two factions that would otherwise have little common ground. In the process, he’s further cemented his place as one of the most powerful Louisiana governors since the Long era.
Whether that results in actual, meaningful work to restore the state’s dwindling coastline is to be determined. But it’s yet another opportunity for Landry to scale a platform that puts him in a positive light.
