DALLAS — Louisiana's state coastal protection authority voted Aug. 21 to oppose a multi-billion-dollar coastline damage suit filed by a New Orleans levee district against 97 oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico.
Commissioners of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority advised trustees of the Southeast Flood Protection Authority-East to drop the suit, but will not ask the judge to terminate it.
John Barry, a member of the coastal panel who is also vice president of the New Orleans area levee district and a proponent of the lawsuit, was not allowed to vote on the issue as a potential conflict of interest.
The lawsuit contends that canals dug into coastal wetlands by oil and gas companies damaged areas that otherwise would have buffered New Orleans from hurricane storm surges.
Property valuations within the district are not sufficient to maintain or extend the $14.6 billion flood protection system built by the federal government since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Barry said.
Barry said he was willing to meet with industry representatives to reach a compromise over the 45-day cooling-off period approved by district trustees.
Authority chairman Garrett Graves said the state agency will wait before filing a motion for dismissal to see if the case fails on a procedural issue.
The lawsuit will likely be thrown out of court soon, Graves predicted. He contends that only the state can sue to recover damages to coastal areas.
Lawmakers upset over the lawsuit challenging the oil and gas industry will make the New Orleans flood district a target in 2014, Graves warned at Wednesday's meeting.
"I don't see any scenario where this levee district doesn't get gutted in the next legislative session," he said.
Susan Maclay, president of the regional flood protection district on the west bank of the Mississippi River, asked officials of the east bank district attending the coastal authority meeting to drop its lawsuit.
Graves said Gov. Bobby Jindal, a critic of the lawsuit, also could end the district's legal quest by appointing several new members to the levee board.
The flood district's lawsuit is a waste of time and money, and a distraction from more important issues facing the Louisiana coast, Graves said.
