The Giant Big Oil Lawsuit That Bobby Jindal Wants to Make Disappear

[babylonsister]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/big-oil-lawsuit-bobby-jindal-louisiana


The Giant Big Oil Lawsuit That Bobby Jindal Wants to Make Disappear
In July, an independent flood board sued the oil industry for damages incurred by coastal erosion. Then the Republican governor intervened.

—By Tim Murphy
| Thu Sep. 19, 2013 3:00 AM PDT


In late July, the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority–East, an independent board created by the state legislature in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to shore up the state's levee system, filed a lawsuit against the oil companies. All of them. The committee targeted nearly 100 petroleum producers with operations on the Gulf Coast—including titans such as BP America, Exxon-Mobil, and Chevron—for what it termed a "mercilessly efficient, continuously expanding system of ecological destruction."

But in a state where even the lawn in front of the governor’s mansion is sponsored by Dow, the flood board's lawsuit has faced a massive pushback. And no one has been more forceful in their opposition to lawsuit—and in the defense of the oil companies—than Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal. He dismissed it almost immediately as nothing more than a "windfall for trial lawyers" and alleged that the legal action would interfere with the administration's own unfunded long-term plans. When the nominating committee that appoints flood board candidates met for the first time on Friday, it received a warning from Baton Rouge: The lawsuit would be a litmus test for the governor, and any nominee who supported it would be rejected.

snip//

The 11 board members, the majority of whom are registered Republicans, voted unanimously to go ahead with the suit. Although the board only serves New Orleans and its suburbs, a victory would move other parts of the Gulf Coast to follow in their path. Or so the thinking went.

But Jindal's response has been swift. He pledged to fight the lawsuit in court by asserting that the board didn't have the power to take such an action (the state has not, however, filed for summary judgment to the dismiss the case). When that didn't dissuade the board from bringing the suit, Jindal informed the legislature that opposition to the lawsuit would be a litmus test for any new nominee to the board. And then his administration went one step further—Graves hinted that the legislature would craft a new statute, when it next reconvenes, that explicitly prohibits the flood board from pursuing the matter any further: "I don’t see any scenario where this levee district doesn't get gutted—or, say, 'reformed'—in the next legislative session." To members of the levee board, the culprit is clear.

snip//

"The reality is the governor who has vetoed the renewal of a cigarette tax because he's so anti-tax—and even this legislature overrode that veto—but this anti-tax governor wants taxpayers to pay to fix what the most profitable industry in the world damaged?," says Barry. "Am I missing something?"

[Scurrilous]

1. K & R

[DiverDave]

2. Follow the money, he's dirty.

La. voters getting what they wanted. Idiots.