Oil and Gas

AP: Supreme Court deadline nears for suit over wetlands loss

[UPDATE: The levee board has asked SCOTUS to revive its lawsuit. Read more here.]

Photo by Robin May

[UPDATE: The levee board has asked SCOTUS to revive its lawsuit. Read more here.]

A Louisiana flood board is nearing a deadline for asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review its lawsuit seeking to make oil and gas companies pay for decades of damage to coastal wetlands, the Associated Press reports.

Federal district and appeals courts have rejected the lawsuit, which was met by fierce opposition from the energy industry and many in state government when it was filed in 2013. The suit by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority East said drilling and dredging activity contributed to loss of wetlands that form a hurricane buffer for New Orleans.

Oil industry supporters have labeled the lawsuit an attack on a vital industry. Tuesday marks the deadline for the flood board attorneys to seek Supreme Court review after their last defeat in April.

A federal district judge’s 2015 ruling held that federal and state law provided no avenue by which the board could bring the suit.

Read the full story here.