"Suit claims wetlands loss intensified damage"
Tags: oil companies, environmental damage, leveesThis will probably drag on for decades:
LAFAYETTE — A lawsuit seeks what attorneys say could be billions of dollars from a long list of oil companies for damages to wetlands that would have allegedly softened Hurricane Katrina's blow.
The class-action suit, filed in federal court in Lafayette this week, names as plaintiffs "all persons, businesses and entities in the state of Louisiana who have suffered damages as a result of Hurricane Katrina's winds and storm surge."
At issue are the oil and gas pipeline canals that crisscross the state's coastal areas — canals blamed in part for the loss of coastal marsh, an important hurricane buffer for inland areas…
