Feb 13 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Louisiana threw out alawsuit Friday against more than 90 oil, gas and pipelinecompanies accused of collectively damaging the state'scoastline, according to court records.
The suit was filed in 2013 by the Southeast Louisiana FloodProtection Authority-East, accused the companies of destroyingthe state's fragile wetlands that protect the greater NewOrleans area from catastrophic flooding, such as that whichoccurs during hurricanes.
The suit says the companies cut at least 10,000 miles of oiland gas canals and pipelines through Louisiana coastal lands andasks that they repair the damaged environmental buffer zone.
"The product of this network is an ecosystem so seriouslydiseased that its complete demise is inevitable if no action istaken," the lawsuit said.
The board operates and maintains the system of levees,floodgates, seawalls and jetties that protect property and abouta million residents in and around New Orleans.
Some 97 defendants in the suit included BP Plc,Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp and Royal DutchShell Plc.
U.S. District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown, in a 49-pageruling, dismissed the lawsuit Friday evening.
Members of the board could not be immediately reached tocomment late Friday.
The lawsuit touched off a political firestorm, with Gov.Bobby Jindal accusing the agency of overreach and saying thefiling should be withdrawn.
Jindal, a Republican, said the agency had overstepped itsauthority by hiring trial lawyers to file the suit, apparentlywithout permission from him or the state's attorney general. (Reporting by Karen Brooks in Austin, Texas; Editing by KenWills)
