Bobby Jindal ousts member of regional levee board who led oil company suit
Gov. Bobby Jindal has made his selections for three positions on the regional levee authority, replacing one high-profile member on the board which drew fire from the Jindal administration for filing suit against oil and gas companies.
Jindal had made clear that anyone who supported the suit would not be re-appointed to the nine-member Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East.
Hassinger replaces author and historian John Barry on the board. Jindal said he would not reappoint Barry, criticizing him for his role in spearheading the SLFPA-E lawsuit against oil and gas companies, seeking money to repair damaged wetlands. Barry’s term expired earlier this year but the lawsuit emerged over the summer.
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More on the lawsuit:
Oil, gas and pipeline companies that cut at least 10,000 miles of oil and gas canals and pipelines through Louisiana coastal lands must repair the damaged environmental buffer zone that helps protect most of the greater New Orleans region from catastrophic flooding, a lawsuit filed by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority – East (SLFPA-E) asserted today.
Filed in state district court in Orleans Parish, the lawsuit alleges about 100 defendants compromised the integrity of Louisiana’s coastal lands with activities tied to hundreds of wells and pipelines, heightening risks of hurricanes, storm surge and flooding in the region.
The SLFPA-E – which operates and maintains the complex system of levees, floodgates, seawalls, and jetties that protect about a million people and property in the greater New Orleans region – asserts in the lawsuit that the defendants are obligated by law to restore the coastal land areas.
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