Not unreasonable

Despite Governor Jindal's aggressive moves to shut down SLFPA-E's lawsuit against oil and gas, the suit they are moving ahead with against the Corps of Engineers isn't as off-base as you might think.

The state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority on Tuesday authorized two lawsuits to try to get the Army Corps of Engineers to pay for a $3 billion restoration program to repair damage caused by the Mississippi-River Gulf Outlet and to pay for operation and maintenance of hurricane levees along the Algiers Canal on the West Bank.

The lawsuits both followed negotiations lasting several years between the state and the corps over both projects, said Assistant Attorney General David Peterson.

"I want to be clear that some allege this is a big watershed lawsuit against the corps," said Garret Graves, chairman of the authority. "But that's not what this is. We tried for four years to prevent getting to this point."

At stake is the question of whether state and local governments will be on the hook for millions of dollars in sharing the costs of mitigating damage done to coastal wetlands by the MRGO and maintaining flood control structures on the West Bank.   It's a heavy price to hang on residents who are themselves already victimized by the deteriorating coastline.