HOUSTON — Over 2,300 shrimpers, boat owners and seafood business owners from across the Gulf Coast filed a lawsuit in Houston against two companies over an oil spill in Louisiana's Terrebonne Bay that happened on the opening day of the 2022 shrimping season. 

Around 200 of the 2,328 listed plaintiffs are from Louisiana. They are suing Houston-based Hilcorp Energy Co. and foreign-based WCC Energy Group, LLC, whose primary office is in Metairie.

On Aug. 8, 2022, the opening day of shrimping season, a storage tank on a Hilcorp offshore platform in Terrebonne Bay fell into the water and spilled around 14,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf. The lawsuit alleges that WCC had previously damaged the tank, but it ultimately failed because Hilcorp failed to maintain its equipment.

The spill caused the closure of approximately 33 square miles of Gulf waters to shrimping and oyster harvesting for several weeks. 

The plaintiffs blame Hilcorp and WCC for the negative publicity they faced from the spill, claiming that people were deterred from buying local seafood. The lawsuit cites a public safety notice from the Louisiana Department of Health that warned of a "serious risk to human life," and urged people to steer clear of the area and to avoid fishing in areas with "visible sheen or slicks."

Shrimpers and captains also said in the lawsuit that they were forced to clean their boats and nets that had been contaminated by oil, and were forced to get rid of some equipment. 

Plaintiffs accuse the two companies of negligence and violating the federal Oil Pollution Act and state environmental laws. They are seeking damages for loss of income and damage to personal property, among others. They also want the two companies to be held responsible for repairing the "reputational damage done to Terrebonne Bay and Louisiana."

According to the lawsuit, Hilcorp has been involved in at least seven other oil spills. It cites Scott Eustis, a coastal wetland and specialist for the Gulf Restoration Network, who accused the company of having a history of "regulatory violations and operating shortcuts."

The Advocate reported that in 2018, Hilcorp paid $920,000 to settle claims that it dredged through oyster reeds without a permit, and it reported more than a dozen oil spills in Louisiana after Hurricane Ida in 2021.