Louisiana legislator pushes bills benefiting the oil and gas industry — and her husband

Internal emails show Louisiana state senator Sharon Hewitt worked on a bill with a company that had financial ties to her spouse

More than 300 people were evacuated from their homes and 49 hospitalized when a carbon dioxide pipeline run by an oil and gas company ruptured in a rural community in Mississippi. People were described as wandering around like zombies" in the aftermath of the February 2020 incident.

Less than a week later, Sharon Hewitt, a Louisiana state senator who has considered running for governor, filed a bill drafted by the operator of that pipeline, Denbury Resources, into her own state's legislature.