Louisiana’s ‘Public Trust’ Doctrine Tests State’s EJ Mandates In Permitting

Louisiana’s public trust doctrine, a constitutional provision that generally requires regulators to protect the environment, is facing a court test as the state and environmentalists make competing arguments over whether it requires assessing the environmental justice (EJ) impacts of air permits. Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) filed a March 18 petition asking the state Supreme Court in Rise St. James, et al. v. LDEQ to overturn a lower court decision finding it is obligated under the state’s public...