“Jury orders Chevron to pay more than $744m for destroying Louisiana wetlands”, 4 April 2025

Chevron has been ordered to pay more than $744m in damages for destroying parts of south-east Louisiana’s coastal wetlands over the years.

The ruling, which came in the form of a civil jury verdict on Friday, marks the conclusion of the first trial among 42 lawsuits filed about 12 years earlier which alleged that the company’s oil and gas projects have led to the degradation of the region’s wetlands…

The jury found that the oil brand Texaco, which is owned by Chevron, violated state regulations surrounding coastal resources by contributing to the disappearing coastline through dredging canals, drilling wells and dumping massive amounts of wastewater into the marsh.

The verdict could prompt other companies to settle the other separate but similar lawsuits. Nonetheless, Chevron’s attorney, Mike Phillips, said that the oil company intends to appeal the verdict…

According to a 1978 Louisiana management law, sites used by oil companies must “be cleared, revegetated, detoxified, and otherwise restored as near as practicable to their original condition” after the companies’ projects end,…

The south-eastern Louisiana community of Plaquemines parish filed the lawsuit against Chevron in 2013, asking for $2.6bn in damages at the time. The parish has an additional 20 pending cases against other oil companies.

The jury awarded various compensations to Plaquemines on Friday, including $575m for land loss, $161m for contamination – as well as $8.6 million for abandoned equipment…

Phillips said that Chevron was “not the cause of the land loss occurring” in Plaquemines. He said that the law does not apply to “conduct that occurred decades before the law was enacted”.

Phillips called the ruling “unjust,” contending that there were “numerous legal errors.”