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Class-action suit filed against oil companies

BizNewOrleans.com: Class-action suit filed against oil companies

“Two area lawyers have filed a class-action lawsuit against major oil and gas companies on behalf of victims of Hurricane Katrina. The suit blames drilling activities throughout Southeast Louisiana for destroying hundreds of acres of wetlands that served as natural barriers for New Orleans.”: “The lawsuit names 10 oil and gas companies, including ExxonnMobil Corp., Chevron Corp., BP Corp., Shell Oil Co., Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Corp. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., Shell Pipeline Co.,”

Thursday 15 Sept 2005

NEW ORLEANS — Two area lawyers have filed a class-action lawsuit against major oil and gas companies on behalf of victims of Hurricane Katrina. The suit blames drilling activities throughout Southeast Louisiana for destroying hundreds of acres of wetlands that served as natural barriers for New Orleans.

The lawsuit alleges that over a million acres of marshlands in Southeast Louisiana were destroyed primarily because of oil & gas exploration during the past 70 years.

“Everyone has been talking about the failures of the state, local and

federal governments in the wake of Hurricane Katrina,” said Val P. Exnicios of Liska, Exnicios & Nungesser. “We believe it’s the right time to pinpoint who’s essentially responsible for the devastation caused by Katrina in the first place — the major oil and gas companies, who haphazardly dredged thousands of miles of exploration and drill site canals throughout South Louisiana to extract oil and gas.

Exnicios and Conrad S.P. “Duke” Williams of the New Orleans law firm of St. Martin & Williams, filed the lawsuit yesterday in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit names 10 oil and gas companies, including ExxonnMobil Corp., Chevron Corp., BP Corp., Shell Oil Co., Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Corp. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., Shell Pipeline Co., Gulf South Pipeline Co., Koch Pipeline Co. and Columbia Gulf Transmission Co.

Representatives from Shell and ExxonMobil were not immediately available for comment.

The lawsuit doesn’t specify a damage amount. The suit has been assigned to Chief Judge Ginger Berrigan.

Exnicios said that the lawsuit doesn’t blame private companies for a natural disaster. However, he said they are responsible for leaving the city of New Orleans vulnerable to a strong hurricane like Katrina.

“I’m blaming oil companies for destroying what previously existed,” he said. “They are the ones that destroyed the 100 miles of natural barriers.”

The lawsuit alleges that the oil companies didn’t maintain canals which caused damage to the stability and ecological functions of marshes, leading to land erosion, the creation of spoil banks and impairment of natural ebb and flow of tidal water.

By Keith Brannon

The Biz Network

[email protected]

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