(The Center Square) – While Gov. Jeff Landry claims to have “tackled” legacy lawsuits targeting the oil and gas industry, more than two dozen have been filed in Louisiana over the past year, including eight in October alone.

In fact, in one of the latest suits the state itself is a lead plaintiff against five oil and gas companies, according to a review of court filings.

The newest litigation contrasts with Landry’s claims of success in resolving longstanding disputes with the energy industry, most recently through an agreement with BP announced Friday that settles the company’s remaining coastal lawsuits and accelerates approximately $350 million in payments owed to Louisiana.

In a post on X, the governor said “We have tackled legacy lawsuits, which many said was impossible. We have now disposed of claims and settled with all but one of the major defendants in these coastal cases.”

But while the administration has secured settlements in coastal litigation, new lawsuits involving alleged contamination from inland oil and gas operations continue to accumulate in Louisiana courts. Since March 2026, at least 19 such lawsuits have been filed, many naming the same major energy producers, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips and Woodside Energy.

The Governor’s office asserts that without laws passed since Landry took office, the number of lawsuits would be higher.

“The number you are referencing is the number of lawsuits that have been reformed through laws passed since the Governor has been in office,” a spokesman for Landry said in a statement.

The lawsuits generally allege that companies failed to properly maintain, restore or remediate properties used for oil and gas exploration and production, sometimes involving operations that occurred decades or even more than a century ago.

“Defendants failed to properly plug and abandon wells and decommission … production facilities located on the property,” one lawsuit alleges. That case involves alleged damages dating from 1984 to 1996. Other suits include damages dating back to the 1920s.

The new filings also come ahead of a major change to Louisiana law intended to curb legacy litigation, a law which Landry takes credit for. Beginning in 2027, that law will make it harder to successfully sue oil and gas companies and will restrict the damages they must pay if they are found liable.

“The Governor should be getting credit for putting an end to the endless cycle of litigation causing our State to bleed jobs and economic opportunity,” a spokesperson for Landry said in a statement.

However, because that law does not take effect for another year, attorneys have rushed to file claims before the higher burden of proof takes effect.

Most of the latest lawsuits filed in the last year are brought by Talbot, Carmouche and Marcello, a Baton Rouge law firm responsible for numerous legacy and coastal lawsuits. The firm’s website urges potential clients to file before the new law takes effect.

But even if the firm is victorious in their efforts to sue oil and gas companies, records show that very little is ever done to truly address any pollution that remains.

According to figures obtained by The Center Square, 632 legacy cases had been filed under Louisiana’s legacy litigation framework, involving 1,040 individual subcases. Of those 1,040 subcases, just 188 had met state environmental standards.

The department’s records also show that 349 legacy cases included environmental testing data demonstrating contamination exceeding state standards. Another 282 either lacked sufficient data or had not demonstrated contamination above those thresholds.

Those findings underscore the distinction between resolving a lawsuit and restoring contaminated property, particularly when multiple companies may share responsibility for different portions of the same site.