A parish jury of Platemines ordered Chevron to pay $ 745 million in damages on Friday to restore an area of the coastal wetlands of Louisiana, a historic verdict likely to have broader implications on dozens of other similar proceedings.
The case was the first to be tried among 41 parish prosecution against oil companies seeking to keep them responsible for coastal damage. The verdict can influence the way other cases take place while Louisiana has trouble finding money which must be faced with the loss of accelerated land in the years to come.
While the defenders of the coast welcomed the verdict as just and a boost for the restoration of wetlands, oil and other groups of companies in Louisiana severely condemned it, arguing that it would harm the state economy in the long term. The total cost could be more than a billion dollars once the interest is calculated.
The administration of Governor Jeff Landry largely supported the petroleum and gas industry, but it intervened in the case in the name of the plaquemines opposing Chevron. Landry spokesperson sent questions to the prosecutor General Liz Murrill, who called the “Fair” verdict and thanked the jurors for their work.
The verdict was the culmination of a one -month trial which took place in a Palais de Justice at Pointe à la Hache. He opposed the government of the parish of the Platemines, represented by the main lawyer John Carmouche of the law firm based in Baton Rouge, Talbot, Carmouche and Marcello, against the oil giant Chevron, who was represented by a team of lawyers led by Mike Phillips.
The trial was initially filed in 2013.
Lawyer John H. Carmouche and his team pose at the Palais de Justice de la Paroisse Plaquemines at Pointe ˆ La Hache, on Friday April 4, 2025. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
“I think it was a big victory for our community,” said Phil Cossich, a team lawyer who represented the parish of Platemines. “It’s been a long time since it could be an excellent step to save our coast.”
Chevron plans to call “to resolve the many legal errors that have led to this unfair result,” said Phillips, the lawyer’s lawyer in a statement. “Chevron is not the cause of the loss of land in Breton’s sound.”
The jurors deliberated for about four hours before arriving at their decision. The damage scholarship is broken down to $ 575 million for the loss of land, $ 161 million for pollution and $ 8.6 million for abandoned equipment, for a total amount of $ 744.6 million.
The parish of Platemines had asked the jury to grant $ 2.6 billion.
The full amount that Chevron could possibly pay, the interest included, is around $ 1.2 billion, according to the Carmouche team. Chevron disputes this figure. Interest stems from the date on which the file was submitted.
‘Could be a life buoy’
The plaquemines allegedly alleged that Texaco had bypassed the law of the state by requesting no coastal permit and not withdrawing the oil and gas infrastructure from its site when it ceased to use an oil field in Breton Sound. He argued that the loss and pollution of massive coastal lands can be directly linked to the oil and gas activity of Texaco.
Chevron, who bought Texaco in 2001, said that the regulations in question had come into force in 1980 and were not intended to apply to oil and gas activity that started before that. The company does not deny that the loss of land has occurred in the area around the oil field site, but maintains that oil and gas activity was not responsible for it.
The case has taken on disproportionate importance because it strikes the heart of the loss of earth loss of Louisiana. While the dikes holding the Mississippi river in place set the problem in motion, oil and gas activity has been a major contributor due to the thousands of kilometers of cut canals through wetlands and due to the exacerbating of fossil fuels.
The Chevron lawyers pose before the courthouse of the Old parish Platemines at Pointe ˆ La Hache, La., Friday April 4, 2025. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
Following all these factors and more, the state lost around 2,000 squares of land in the last century – the size of the Delaware. The elevation of the sea level should considerably worsen the problem in the decades to come.
The state has a 50 -year coastal master plan in place to save what it can, but it faces serious shortages of money in the near future. He used billions of regulations and fines linked to the oil spill of the BP 2010 to pay large -scale catering work, but this money expires by 2032.
The coalition to restore the coast of Louisiana, a non -profit organization that has worked to restore the coast of Louisiana for decades, said the verdict could provide essential funding.
“Our state has a sophisticated coastal master plan based on science that will help us preserve our communities and our culture, but we simply do not have the money to implement all the projects,” said the organization of the organization of the organization, James Karst. “This type of financing could be a life buoy, helping us do the work that will benefit all those who depend on healthy wetlands.”
‘A scary message’
This point of view was not shared by the politically powerful oil and commercial interests of Louisiana. The president of Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, Tommy Faucheux, said that the verdict would cool economic activity and aggravate the situation accordingly.
“Louisiana cannot prosper in its current dispute climate, when erroneous proceedings can attack industry which is our main economic engine,” he said in a statement. “Today’s verdict sends a message to the rest of the world that Louisiana is not an attractive place for industry or new investments.”
The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry has echoed that, noting that the state oil and gas industry “supports more than 250,000 jobs and contributes to billions of dollars a year to the economy of our state,” said the president and chief executive officer, Green said in a statement. The verdict, he added, “threatens these economic advantages but also sends a scary message to companies across the country on the risk of operation in Louisiana.”
The Pelican Institute, a group for reflection on the free market in New Orleans, and develops Louisiana, an organization that pleads for the energy industry in Louisiana, also published statements saying that the verdict would cost the state jobs.
Carmouche said he was planning to charge other prosecution, saying that companies that have helped damage the coast should be held responsible. Her efforts follow a long and politically divisive the history of Louisiana to debate if and how she should seek to force the oil companies to pay coastal damage.
“This is only the first case of the fight to restore and renew the coastal and marshes of Louisiana,” he said in a statement after the verdict.
“There are 40 cases of this type, and our energy is focused on the guarantee of appropriate verdicts and rewards for each parish involved in these actions. If we continue to succeed in our efforts, these parishes and Louisiana will have sent a clear message that the future of Louisiana must be built around a new balance between our energy industry and our environmental necessities.”
