The administration of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has filed an appeal with the Louisiana Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of a law passed to block a levee authority's wetlands damages lawsuit against more than 80 oil, gas and pipeline companies. The appeal challenges a Dec. 3 decision by state District Judge Janice Clark that declared the law unconstitutional. The law, Act 544, was attempt by the Jindal administration to stop a lawsuit filed by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East over what it claimed are decades of damages to the state's coastal plains south of New Orleans (NGWJan.12'15). In her December ruling, Clark said the law passed to block the lawsuit didn't apply to the levee authority because it is "an independent political subdivision and not a state agency." She also ruled that the law violates the state Constitution's "public trust doctrine" by blocking the levee authority's ability to "redress issues with coastal restoration particularly insofar as those are related to hurricane protections."
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