Articles by Kevin McGill

$3 Billion BP Deepwater Horizon Settlement Funding Massive Ecosystem Restoration in Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Nearly $3 billion in settlement money from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster that devastated the Gulf Coast and killed hundreds of thousands of marine animals is now funding a massive ecosystem restoration in southeastern Louisiana’s Plaquemines …

New Louisiana School A Step to Resolve Decades-Old Lawsuit

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Authorities in a southwest Louisiana school district have agreed to develop a magnet school in a historically Black school zone to draw students of all races from across the district in a step toward resolving a …

Louisiana Deputies Want Black Woman’s Excessive Force Suit Dismissed

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Two white Louisiana sheriff’s deputies who forced a Black woman facedown to the ground in 2020 as they investigated an allegation that she had been riding a motorcycle without a helmet asked a federal appeals court …

Court Ends Challenge to 2021 Gulf Oil and Gas Lease Sale

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A lawsuit by environmentalists seeking to block the 2021 sale of Gulf of Mexico oil and gas leases auctioned off by the federal government was rejected by a federal appeals court in Washington. Energy companies including …

Louisiana Lost $82M of Natural Gas Due to Leaks, Report Says

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Louisiana lost more than $82 million worth of natural gas in 2019 due to leaks, venting or flaring at production sites, according to a study released Thursday by an environmental group and government watchdog organizations. The …

DOJ: Unjustified Force, Bias Still Plague New Orleans Police

Unjustified use of force, dangerous vehicle pursuits and racially biased policing continue to be problems for the New Orleans Police Department, the U.S. Justice Department said in a Friday court filing, opposing the city’s move to terminate a decade-old court-backed …

Louisiana Challenge to Biden ‘Cost of Carbon’ Policy Dismissed

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A lawsuit that Louisiana and other Republican-leaning states filed challenging figures the Biden administration uses to calculate damages from greenhouse gasses was dismissed Wednesday by a federal appeals court. The unanimous decision by three judges on …

$264M Offered for Gulf Oil Under Climate Compromise

Oil companies offered a combined $264 million for drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday in a sale mandated by last year’s climate bill compromise. The auction was the first in the Gulf in more than a year …

Supreme Court Keeps Louisiana Wetland Damage Lawsuits in State Courts

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A lawsuit against oil and gas companies over damage to Louisiana’s wetlands will remain in state court, the U.S. Supreme Court said, rejecting an appeal by major energy companies who wanted to get the case moved …

Filipino Workers Say Oil Company Abandoned Them in Hurricane Ida

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – As Hurricane Ida struck the Louisiana Gulf Coast in August 2021, Renato Decena and Rosel Hernandez watched the storm punch a hole in the roof of the bunkhouse where they were sheltered _ abandoned, they allege, …