LOOP Lawsuit Claims Gulf Coast Oil Spill Harmed Marine Life, Fishermen’s Livelihoods

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LOOP has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit alleging that the company, which operates the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, failed to prevent a late-February oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that put both marine life and fishermen’s livelihoods at stake.

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The 30-page environmental lawsuit alleges that LOOP, LLC—a joint venture of Marathon Pipe Line, Shell Oil Company and Valero Terminaling and Distribution Company—operates a deepwater port that spilled over 31,500 gallons of Venezuelan crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico on February 26, 2026, which then traveled 18 miles into Louisiana’s territorial waters and coastline. The suit claims that LOOP’s response to the spill was “egregiously slow and grossly inadequate,” and that the spill has caused “irreparable damage” to marine life, devastating Louisiana shrimpers, crabbers and fisherman who rely on the affected waters for their livelihood.

According to the filing, Venezuelan “sour” crude oil is sometimes described as a “semi-solid tar” and is extremely dense and sticky. The lawsuit explains that Venezuelan crude oil degrades more slowly than U.S.-produced oil and tends to form “tar balls” and semi-solid masses that gradually sink, making cleanup “impossible” and having a “severe impact” on birds, mammals and marine life unlucky enough to be in the path of a spill.

LOOP, the lawsuit scathes, knew its systems were unable to handle the “dense, heavy” Venezuelan crude oil yet accepted it anyway “out of a desire for increased profits.” Per the case, the spill occurred when a cargo hose failed during the first or one of the first transfers of Venezuelan heavy crude to LOOP after the capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

Following the February 26 oil spill, LOOP deliberately downplayed its scope and severity to authorities and the public, the suit says; an initial press release stated that “[n]o shoreline impact has been observed or is forecasted at this time.”

The company did not publicly acknowledge that the spill was not contained until March 3, 2026, when LOOP admitted that a “limited” amount of oil had been recovered from Louisiana’s barrier islands, which are home to a “rich” array of delicate marine life, including shrimp, crabs, oysters and fin fish, per the case.  LOOP also touted the formation of a “Unified Command” comprised of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office and LOOP to coordinate response efforts, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit charges that LOOP “continued to downplay the significance” of the spill, saying in the March 3 press release that the spill consisted of 12,600 gallons of crude oil and that a “substantial portion” of the oil had been recovered.

On March 5, LOOP finally updated its press release to reflect that 31,500 gallons, or 750 barrels, of the tar-like crude oil had been spilled.

The suit says that by March 26, the response effort had expanded to include at least 677 responders, utilizing 107 vessels, multiple forms of aircraft and 158,400 feet of protective “boom,” or floating barriers designed for spill containment.

The timing of the oil spill “could not be worse,” as it happened right before the opening of Louisiana’s inland shrimping season, peak crabbing season and spawning season for oysters, the filing explains. Locals allegedly began reporting oil near their docks, on their boats and on seafood; the suit says that as recently as April 1, shrimpers and crabbers were continuing to report oil sludge on shrimp and crabs they caught.

Per the case, as a direct consequence of the oil spill, shrimpers, crabbers and fishermen have been unable to obtain seafood from their typical fishing, trawling or harvesting areas due to the presence or expectation of oil contamination in water and marine life. Due to the rising price of fuel, traveling farther to reach uncontaminated water is economically unreasonable for many of them, the case says.

Moreover, fishermen have been forced to discard seafood contaminated with oil and have suffered economic damages due to the decreased supply and “damaged reputation” of seafood from the spill area, as stated in the filing.

The case says that as part of the Unified Command, LOOP opened a claim center, ostensibly to aid fishermen who rely on the affected waters for their livelihood, but the company’s actions allegedly violated statutory requirements set out by the Oil Pollution Act (OPA).

The lawsuit says that one of the plaintiffs was given a “settlement offer” of a fixed sum that would absolve LOOP of responsibility and release the company from any present or future claims related to the oil spill, even though the OPA imposes liability on LOOP as the “responsible party.”

LOOP allegedly refused to allow the affected fishermen to confer with outside counsel or their families and pressured them to sign a release by representing that it was a limited-time offer that would be rescinded if they walked out the door, the case says.  

“[U]nder the auspices of an OPA compliant claims process, LOOP is using duress to fraudulently obtain releases of all present and future OPA (and other) claims against it—a flagrant violation of OPA and state and federal law,” the case alleges.

Crucially, the case says that the economy in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana is highly dependent on the success of shrimpers, crabbers and fishermen, who continue to suffer economic losses because of the environmental impact of the oil spill.

“[T]he full economic impact to plaintiffs and the Louisiana seafood industry as a result of this spill is not yet known,” the suit conveys.

The LOOP class action lawsuit seeks to cover all individuals and entities residing or owning property in the United States who claim economic losses or damages to their occupations, businesses, and/or property as a result of the February 26, 2026 oil spill from LOOP, LLC’s offshore facility.

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