BATON ROUGE - The Justice Department is urging a federal court to let industry regulators decide if a New Orleans company has done enough to end a decade-old oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that could last another century.

Taylor Energy Company sued the federal government in January to recover more than $400 million that it set aside for work to stop the leak off Louisiana's coast.

Late Tuesday, Justice Department attorneys asked the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to dismiss the lawsuit. They argue that the company's money should remain in a trust until the Interior Department decides whether the company has met its leak-related obligations.

The leak began in 2004 when an underwater mudslide triggered by Hurricane Ivan's waves toppled a company-owned platform and buried a cluster of its wells.