Legal Legacies: Cameron Parish and Louisiana’s Coastal Communities
A legacy of fossil fuel exploitation and forced migration along Louisiana’s coast – and generations of harm fueled by firms including Latham & Watkins.
“Fossil fuel companies and their government allies moved Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects into the region and turned our fishing community upside down. The Calcasieu Pass LNG export terminal was just 300 feet from my house, and promised ‘deep-water access, proximity to plentiful gas supplies and ease of transport for buyers.’ Vibrations from its operations were so intense they knocked pictures off my wall. My wife suffered a heart attack, and my children were frequently ill. Facing dire health consequences and daily interruptions, my family was driven from our home.” – Travis Dardar, Indigenous Fisherman of Cameron, Founder of FISH – Fishermen Involved in Sustaining our Heritage
Travis Dardar, Photo by Susanne Wong
In Cameron Parish, a little-known company is trying to build a massive, 550-acre, $10 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal named Calcasieu Pass 2 (CP2). CP2 is not like any other project: it is slated to be the “single biggest remaining fossil fuel expansion on planet Earth” and has been called “Biden’s Next Big Climate Test.” CP2 is the latest fossil fuel project of Venture Global, a company with multiple former Big Law attorneys on its board, and which has already overtaken the Louisiana coastline and devastated local communities with fossil fuel infrastructure.
CP2 would significantly set back efforts to address climate change: at full volume, “the lifecycle emissions of burning that much gas will add up to 190 million” metric tons of CO2 equivalent each year—“20 times the annual emissions of the Willow Project and equivalent to the emissions from more than 42 million gas-powered cars or 51 coal-fired power plants.” CP2 threatens the livelihoods of Cameron’s Indigenous residents, many of whom, like Travis Dardar, have already been displaced from their ancestral lands by rapid land loss at the hands of fossil fuel companies.
Behind the scenes of the devastation to local communities and the global climate crisis is a familiar name in the legal industry: Latham & Watkins. Latham has represented Venture Global in many proceedings before regulatory authorities. They have helped secure billions in financing for CP2 and other export terminals devastating the Louisiana coast.
This is not new for Latham & Watkins. They have ranked as an F firm on the Law Firm Climate Change Scorecard every year since the Scorecard’s inception in October of 2020. They have defended Chevron from challenges to a “colossus” polluting refinery in Richmond, California, leaving a dangerous legacy of respiratory illness, polluted air and waters, and fossil fuel dependence for the community. Recently, they were instrumental in the Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, which overturned decades of precedent and upended the authority of agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate fossil fuels. Equipped with some of the best resources in the legal industry, the firm’s “success” story has come at the expense of the health and wellbeing of the communities it has had a hand in polluting.
“My 7-month-old baby is having problems with her breathing and they can’t find anything wrong with her. My mom has health problems, she's on permanent oxygen at 44 years old. She's got heart issues and lung issues and severe COPD, the plant ain’t helping. My grandmother has colon cancer, so does my Uncle. People are dying. We are not making enough money. We are hardly getting by. This plant ruined 80% of the fishing industry. They are taking over our hometown and threatening to take it all from us.” – Brooklyn Hernandez, mother and fisherwoman, resident of Cameron [i]
This is the second installment of LSCA’s Legal Legacies project. The project explores the active role of the legal industry in perpetuating generations of harm, and the resilience and power of communities that have pushed back against fossil fuel development. In this story, we lay out the involvement of Latham & Watkins in the fossil fuel takeover of small Gulf Coast communities, so we may all ask: what does it mean to forge a legal legacy?
Latham & Watkins, Venture Global, and the CP2 “Carbon Bomb”
Throughout the process of obtaining the complex regulatory approvals needed to construct CP2, Latham & Watkins has represented the fossil fuel giant in critical applications before federal agencies. On December 2, 2021, Venture Global, represented by Latham & Watkins, submitted an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct, own, and operate the pipeline and LNG facilities that would comprise CP2.[ii] On the same day, the firm represented Venture Global in their application before the Department of Energy (DOE), seeking authorization to export LNG to non-Free Trade Agreement countries.[iii]
In these proceedings, Latham has pushed back against critiques from environmental and community groups and tried to prevent advocacy groups like the Sierra Club from intervening in DOE proceedings.[iv] They have argued in official proceedings that “an increase in exports of U.S. LNG has not been shown to increase [greenhouse gas (GHG)] emissions in a material or predictable way.”[v]
In a brief win for communities and setback for Latham, the Biden administration temporarily paused pending decisions for LNG export terminals in January 2024. “This pause on new LNG approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time,” read the White House statement. Hundreds of thousands of Americans—from “retired Army generals to economists and public health professionals”—have joined the local residents and leaders in supporting pauses on the expansion of LNG exports.
But this did not stop Latham. They continued to push for authorization from FERC, urgently requesting the agency to issue an order authorizing CP2.[vi] In the face of overwhelming pushback organized by hundreds of environmental and community groups, and against mounting evidence of the devastation the project spells for the climate and communities, Latham continued. And on June 27, 2024, their efforts succeeded: FERC approved Venture Global’s application to construct CP2.
Generations of Harm
“Our children are dying from asthma,” said Roishetta Sibley Ozane, leader of the Vessel Project of Louisiana, a local environmental organization, and Lake Charles activist. “People have cancer. And yet these industries are allowed to pollute and emit all of this right in our community and nothing is being done about it because it’s going under the radar.”
Cameron Parish and other Louisianan coastal communities are all too familiar with the devastating impacts of the fossil fuel industry. It’s not just LNG: Other extractive facilities like the NOLA Oil Terminal and St. Charles refinery dot the Louisiana coastline. Over the past century, storms have devastated Cameron Parish, leaving only a small number of locals. As storms have forced many to desert the coast, industry groups like Venture Global have jumped at the opportunity to exploit the remaining land.
In Mossville, a predominantly Black community near Lake Charles in Calcasieu Parish, toxic factories have poisoned residents. A study conducted by the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1998 found that Mossville residents’ blood contained three times the average amount of dioxins—toxic compounds that cause cancer, infertility, and developmental problems.[vii] A once-thriving community founded by formerly enslaved people, most residents have since been displaced by industry.
Further along the coast in Terrebonne Parish, erosion and flooding threaten the survival of the Indigenous villages of Pointe-au-Chien and Isle de Jean Charles. Oil companies have contributed to land erosion by carving canals through the land, further submerging the bayou.[viii] In 2001, on the verge of total displacement and in the absence of government action, the Jean Charles Tribe initiated their own resettlement plan, which garnered enough support that by 2016 they became the first federally funded community of U.S. climate migrants.[ix] Many of them resettled to Cameron Parish.
Displaced from their ancestral lands once already by the fossil fuel industry, Venture Global and Latham & Watkins are pushing the Indigenous communities out again.
CP2 is not an isolated project: Latham has supported several of Venture Global’s fossil fuel projects devastating Gulf Coast communities.
Calcasieu Pass: CP2’s Precursor
CP2 is unfortunately not Latham & Watkins’ first time prioritizing profit at the expense of Louisiana communities–and Latham is not alone among the prestigious Vault 100s in paving the way for the coast’s destruction.
On the same stretch of Louisiana’s coastline sits Calcasieu Pass, Venture Global’s first LNG export terminal. On September 4, 2015, Venture Global, represented by Hogan Lovells, submitted an application to FERC to construct, own, and operate Calcasieu Pass and TransCameron Pipeline.[x] Hogan continued to represent Venture Global for over a year in response to FERC’s various requests for data and environmental information.[xi] Latham then began representing Venture Global in FERC proceedings in 2017. The firm has also helped Venture Global secure billions in project financing.
Since 2021, Calcasieu Pass has consistently experienced malfunctioning equipment, near-constant flaring, hundreds of emissions exceedances, and thousands of permit violations. As a result, this year, it has faced penalties from the state and legal action from its clients—all this despite the fact that the terminal still isn’t fully operational yet.
Flaring in particular led to the release of numerous chemicals, “including between 19,000 and 37,000 pounds of nitrogen dioxide, a greenhouse gas that has been linked to chronic lung disease.” Marginalized communities disproportionately bear the brunt of this toxic pollution: “The cluster of terminals in Cameron Parish is just south of Lake Charles, … where a maze of chemical complexes emits thousands of pounds of cancer-causing chemicals such as vinyl chloride and 1,3-butadiene every year, causing the air to smell like burnt plastic.” Fishermen have also reported a dramatic impact on their livelihoods since the commencement of Calcasieu Pass operations.
Plaquemines
Despite these violations at Venture Global’s first terminal, state and federal regulators signed off on the construction of Venture Global’s second facility in Plaquemines Parish.[xii] On February 28, 2017, Latham & Watkins submitted an application to FERC on behalf of Venture Global to construct and operate a new LNG export terminal and associated facilities along the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish (Plaquemines LNG Project) and a new natural gas pipeline system within Plaquemines Parish (Gator Express Pipeline Project).[xiii] Latham & Watkins also helped Venture Global secure approximately $21 billion in investment for phase one and two of the project.
On top of Calcasieu Pass and Plaquemines—two large, malfunctioning fossil fuel projects along the Gulf Coast—Latham & Watkins is now fighting to add a third: CP2. While Venture Global still needs approval from DOE, Latham will surely be there at every step.
Community groups are fighting back
“Sometimes it feels like we’re alone and David against Goliath – but there’s a bunch of Davids. We are not alone. The only way I’ve seen things change is when people are empowered, when the disenfranchised find their voice again and use it—all the time.” – James Hiatt.
“The time for decisive action is now. Let us reject the false promises of LNG and embrace a future powered by clean energy and environmental justice.” – Misha Mayeur.
Communities of Cameron Parish are not standing idle. They are mobilizing, speaking out at hearings, and bringing legal action. Community-based organizations like For a Better Bayou and The Vessel Project are actively engaged in public meetings and building community in solidarity, with voices and advocacy rooted in frontline experiences. Organizations like Earthworks are pushing back against the construction of deep water ports in the Gulf, in recognition that it’s not just LNG but the entire industry and systems of fossil fuel infrastructure that threaten livelihoods.
Momentum has been building. In May 2023, “seven Gulf-based organizations petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate and correct systematic abuse of Clean Air Act permitting standards violations in Louisiana and Texas.” In December 2023, over 230 groups sent a letter urging the Biden administration to Stop CP2 and recognize the economic, environmental, and public health dangers of the project. In April 2024, environmental and community groups filed a lawsuit in Louisiana District Court challenging the Office of Coastal Management (OCM) of Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources’ issuance of a Coastal Use Permit for a methane gas pipeline.
Pushing forward, it is critical that this movement remain grounded in and guided by frontline communities and voices. The community is organizing and joining together to push back exploitative industry and collectively march towards a vision of hope, liberation, and community care—legacies that will outlive Venture Global and Latham & Watkins.
What is your legal legacy?
Just as community groups find and build their power, so too can lawyers. The harm of law firms is not a given: it is a collective choice. LSCA is calling on law firms to end their representation of the fossil fuel industry. Read and sign our petition here.
[i] We are grateful to FISH for compiling the quotes and several of the photos and quote used in this piece. You can find them at https://www.fishermenfightback.org/ or on Instagram @FishermanFightBack. FISH also works closely with its fiscal sponsor, Habitat Recovery Project @habitat.recovery.project. We welcome readers to learn more about and support their work to protect Louisiana’s ecosystems and communities.
[ii] FERC Docket CP22-21-000 and CP22-22-000. Filed December 2, 2021
Re: Venture Global CP2 LNG, LLC and Venture Global CP Express, LLC Application for Authorizations Under Sections 3 and 7 of the Natural Gas Act
[iii] Venture Global CP2 LNG, LLC - FE Dkt. No. 21-131-LNG, DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (July 24, 2024)
[iv] CP2 Answer to Protests to Application in DOE Docket 21-131-LNG, DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (March 28, 2022)
[v] CP2 Answer to Protests to Application in DOE Docket 21-131-LNG, DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (March 28, 2022)
[vi] Re: Venture Global CP2 LNG, LLC and Venture Global CP Express, LLC Docket Nos. CP22-21-000; CP22-22-000 Urgent Request for Commission Action, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (February 15, 2024)
[vii] Moss Environmental Action Now, “Industrial Sources of Dioxin Poisoning in Mossville, Louisiana: A Report Based on the Government’s Own Data” (July 2007).
[viii] Luke Zimmerman, Erosion and Culture: An Examination of Climate Displacement in Coastal Louisiana, Voices in Bioethics Vol. 9 (2023).
[ix] Jessica R. Z. Simms et al, The long goodbye on a disappearing, ancestral island: A Just Retreat from Isle de Jean Charles, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences Vol. 11 (2021).
[x] FERC Docket CP15-550-000 and CP15-551-000. Filed September 4, 2015.
[xi] For example, FERC Docket CP15-550-000 and CP15-551-000. Filed May 17, 2016.
FERC Docket CP15-550-000 and CP15-551-000. Filed October 11, 2016.
FERC Docket CP15-550-000 and CP15-551-000. Filed January 19, 2017.
Re: Venture Global Calcasieu Pass, LLC and TransCameron Pipeline, LLC Supplemental Information
FERC Docket CP15-550-000 and CP15-551-000. Filed September 4, 2015.
[xii] FERC granted both applications on September 30, 2019.
[xiii] FERC Docket CP17-66-000, CP17-67-000. Filed February 28, 2017.
Re: Venture Global Plaquemines LNG, LLC and Venture Global Gator Express, LLC
Application for Authorizations Under Sections 3 and 7 of the Natural Gas Act
