A class action lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana is seeking unspecified damages against several oil and natural gas pipeline and production companies, alleging their coastal operations in Louisiana destroyed wetlands and allowed Hurricane Katrina to do more damage to occur than would have otherwise.

According to the Alexandria, LA-based newspaper, The Town Talk, the lawsuit alleges negligence by the companies, noting that “over the over the course of many decades, defendants…have dredged pipeline canals for the purpose of installing pipelines” and located drill sites in the marshlands, resulting in erosion.

Val P Exnicios, New Orleans-based lawyer in the lawsuit, told the newspaper, “There are numerous steps that could have been taken to alleviate the problem,” including repairing canals and damming canals no longer in use.

The lawsuit has separated the defendants into two groups: pipeline companies and exploration and production companies. The defendants include Shell Oil Co., Koch Pipeline Co., ExxonMobil Corp., BP plc and Chevron Corp.

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