"New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell filed a lawsuit Friday (March 29) against Entergy New Orleans, Chevron U.S.A. Inc, ExxonMobil Pipeline Company and eight other oil and gas companies, demanding they repair damage caused by exploration, production and pipeline construction activities to wetlands along the city’s eastern edges.
The lawsuit, filed at 5 p.m. in Civil District Court, is similar to dozens of other suits filed against oil and gas firms by six Louisiana parishes. Those suits are pending before federal judges in New Orleans and Lafayette.
“New Orleans has been harmed. The people of our city have been harmed, and our way of life is threatened by the damage done to our coastal wetlands,” Cantrell said. “The land that’s been lost was a protective barrier defending us from hurricanes and floods. If current trends hold, New Orleans will be a literal coastal city within the next fifty years - with no protective land barriers."
Mark Schleifstein reports for the New Orleans Times-Picayune Mar 29, 2019.
