The company has vowed to appeal.
A Louisiana jury has ordered Chevron to pay $744.6 million for environmental damage to coastal wetlands in Plaquemines Parish, concluding that the oil giant’s predecessor, Texaco, violated state regulations and contributed to decades of land loss.
The verdict, delivered on April 4 by a jury at a Plaquemines Parish courthouse in Pointe à la Hache, marks the first trial in a series of lawsuits filed by Louisiana parishes seeking billions from oil and gas companies over coastal degradation.
The jury found that Texaco, acquired by Chevron in 2001, failed to follow state law requiring companies to restore wetlands damaged by drilling and canal dredging, and improperly disposed of industrial wastewater in fragile marsh areas.
Jurors awarded $575 million for land loss, $161 million for contamination, and $8.6 million for abandoned equipment. The total amount for coastal restoration could exceed $1.1 billion with interest, according to attorneys for the parish. Plaquemines Parish, the southeast Louisiana district that brought the lawsuit, was seeking $2.6 billion in damages.
The lawsuit was brought under Louisiana’s 1978 coastal zone management law, which requires operators to obtain permits and restore sites as near to their original condition as is practicable after use. Parish attorneys argued Chevron failed to meet those obligations, leaving canals, toxic waste, and damaged ecosystems behind.
Chevron has maintained that coastal erosion is primarily caused by levee systems preventing the Mississippi River from depositing sediment that would regenerate the coastline, as well as natural forces. Attorneys for the oil giant have also argued that the state’s wetlands restoration proposal is impractical and costly.
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A request for comment on the verdict from the Plaquemines Parish government was not immediately returned.
Chevron has vowed to appeal.
“Chevron thanks the jury for its hard work and will appeal this verdict to address the numerous legal errors that led to this unjust result,” Mike Phillips, Chevron’s lead trial attorney, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement. “This verdict is just one step in the process to establish that the 1980 law does not apply to conduct that occurred decades before the law was enacted. Chevron is not the cause of the land loss occurring in Breton Sound.”
Business groups also denounced the decision. The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI), the state’s largest business lobby, called the verdict a threat to economic stability and job creation.
“This verdict – which should absolutely be appealed – not only threatens those economic benefits but also sends a chilling message to businesses across the country about the risks of operating in Louisiana,” LABI President and CEO Will Green said in a statement. He called the lawsuits “baseless” and warned they could drive investment and jobs out of the state.
Daniel Erspamer, CEO of the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, echoed those concerns, saying the $745 million judgment could have long-term effects on energy production and investment.
“For more than a decade, coastal lawsuits like this one have unfairly targeted energy producers for activities that were lawfully conducted decades ago,” Erspamer said. “Let us be clear—Louisiana’s coastal challenges are real. But turning our courtrooms into battlegrounds for politically motivated lawsuits is not the answer.”
Louisiana has lost over 2,000 square miles of coastal land in the past century, and experts warn thousands more could vanish in the coming decades without large-scale efforts aimed at protection and restoration.
The state is running low on funding for its coastal restoration plans as Deepwater Horizon settlement money runs out, and litigation supporters say verdict payouts could offer critical new resources.
The ruling could set a precedent for more than 40 similar lawsuits still pending across Louisiana, many led by the same legal team.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
