The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to revive a Louisiana flood protection board's lawsuit seeking to make oil, gas and pipeline companies pay for decades of damage to coastal wetlands.
The court rejected the board's request for a review of the case Monday.
The suit drew fierce opposition from the energy industry and many in state government when it was filed in 2013 by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East. The suit said the industry's dredging of canals in coastal drilling areas contributed to loss of wetlands that form a hurricane buffer for New Orleans.
A federal district judge's 2015 ruling held that federal and state law provided no avenue by which the board could bring the suit.
Some coastal parishes are pursuing similar lawsuits on different legal grounds.