The case was the first of dozens of pending lawsuits to reach trial in Louisiana against the world’s leading oil companies for their role in accelerating land loss along the state’s rapidly disappearing coast. The verdict – which Chevron says it will appeal – could set a precedent leaving other oil and gas firms on the hook for billions of dollars in damages tied to land loss and environmental degradation.

Jurors found that energy giant Texaco, acquired by Chevron in 2001, had for decades violated Louisiana regulations governing coastal resources by failing to restore wetlands impacted by dredging canals, drilling wells and billions of gallons of wastewater dumped into the marsh.

The jury awarded $575 million to compensate for land loss, $161 million to compensate for contamination and $8.6 million for abandoned equipment — a total of $744.6 million. Including interest from when the lawsuit was filed in 2013, the amount earmarked for restoration exceeds $1.1 billion, according to attorneys for Talbot, Carmouche & Marcello, the firm behind the lawsuit.

  • nick
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    15 hours ago

    Ah, so you think suddenly he’ll follow those kinds of rules?

    • LilB0kChoy@lemm.ee
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      14 hours ago

      I think you don’t understand how the Presidential pardon works in the United States. I’m tired of the doomerism and negativity I’m seeing all over Lemmy that seems to be detached from reality.

      If 47 somehow manages to start pardoning civil offenses feel free to come back and gloat. Although I’m not sure why you’re so keen on it happening.

      Until then, this is a win for Louisiana and the land along the Gulf and I’m going to celebrate it. There’s too little of news like this lately

      By the way, that’s the Gulf of Mexico I’m referring to.

      • Cenotaph@mander.xyz
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        14 hours ago

        I don’t know that anyone’s keen, but he’s not supposed to have tariff powers either and yet here we are

        • LilB0kChoy@lemm.ee
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          2 hours ago

          He’s not, but he does because he’s using a loophole that involves the IEEPA. There’s an awful lot of ranting and raving on Lemmy and everywhere else about how 47 is ignoring the Constitution and not following the rules of our democracy. Right now Republicans, the party in power, has the ability to take back control, close the “loophole” being used and shut this tariff bullshit down but they’re not doing it. He used the IEEPA for similar actions during his last term as well and has been calling for tariffs since long before he ran the first time, seems like nobody bothered to pay attention. Even if 47 and his administration were magically gone today the US is still in trouble, the democracy is broken, has been for some time, and it seems like folks are just starting to wake up to it. It’s unfortunate that it’s happening this way but maybe this is the wakeup call the US people needed.

          The immediate problem is the current president and their administration but the long term problem is deeper, spans the Republican and the Democratic parties, the courts up to SCOTUS and is peppered through the executive, legislative and judicial branches. It won’t be fixed in my lifetime but I hope, for the younger generations and those coming behind, that fundamental change begins in a new direction.