United States District Court, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2:2016-cv-10171.
In June of this year, the Louisiana Oysterman Association filed suit in June against Hilcorp Energy Co. for “prop washing” and doing so without proper permitting. This prop washing is a cheap method of accessing wells that uses tugboat propellers to churn the water bottoms and deepen existing channels. The Oysterman Association disapproves of this method as it can have serious environmental ramifications and the lack of permits puts Hilcorp in direct violation of the federal Clean Water Act’s prohibition against dredging and filling in open waters without considering alternative, less-damaging methods, or mitigating the damages. This issue comes amongst Hilcorp’s latest oil spill, which is also drawing criticism from the environmental community. The case is currently on trial.