Texas Brine was sued by the State of Louisiana for environmental damage concerning the sinkhole in an area around Bayou Corne which was discovered on August 3, 2012. The suit was announced by Governor Bobby Jindal and Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell.
Patrick Courreges, a spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources said Texas Brine has not reimbursed the state for any of the $12 million already spent responding to the disaster. Jindal said the suit is just the next step in making sure Texas Brine does the right thing and properly addresses the mess it caused. The governor seems to have taken a cue from the suit filed the week before by the Southeast Flood Protection Authority-East who filed a law suit against a number of Oil and Gas companies over the environmental damage caused by their operations in the state.
It took Jindal one day shy a year to file the suit against Texas Brine to hold them accountable but has done nothing to hold the Oil and Gas industry accountable in the four plus years he has been governor. Maybe, just maybe Jindal and Caldwell will join the "Authoritys" suit against the industry and finally hold them accountable. The people in Louisiana should support both lawsuits because businesses do not live up to their responsibilities on their own when they damage the environment and as a general rule hate regulations.
Hopefully, the "Authority" has started a trend and will make government take care of its obligations in enforcing state laws.
This commentary written by John Lucia
