Supreme Court to hear appeal from Chevron in landmark Louisiana coastal
damage lawsuits
[June 17, 2025]
By JACK BROOK
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Supreme Court announced Monday it will hear an
appeal from Chevron, Exxon and other oil and gas companies that lawsuits
seeking compensation for coastal land loss and environmental degradation
in Louisiana should be heard in federal court.
The companies are appealing a 2024 decision by a federal appeals court
that kept the lawsuits in state courts, allowing them to move to trial
after more than a decade in limbo.
A southeast Louisiana jury then ordered Chevron to pay upwards of $740
million to clean up damage to the state's coastline. The verdict reached
in April was the first of dozens of lawsuits filed in 2013 against
leading oil and gas companies in Louisiana alleging they violated state
environmental laws for decades.
While plaintiffs’ attorneys say the appeal encompasses at least 10
cases, Chevron disagrees and says the court’s ruling could have broader
implications for additional lawsuits.
Chevron argues that because it and other companies began oil production
and refining during World War II as a federal contractor, these cases
should be heard in federal court, perceived to be friendlier to
businesses.
But the plaintiffs' attorneys — representing the Plaquemines and
Jefferson Parish governments — say the appeal is the companies' latest
stall tactic to avoid accountability. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Fifth Circuit already rejected similar arguments from Chevron.
“It’s more delay, they’re going to fight till the end and we’re going to
continue to fight as well,” said John Carmouche, a trial attorney in the
Chevron case who is behind the other lawsuits. He noted that the
companies' appeal “doesn’t address the merits of the case.”
Chevron's counsel, Paul Clement said in a statement that the company was
“pleased” with the Supreme Court's decision. Exxon did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
The court’s decision to hear the appeal offers the chance for “fair and
consistent application of the law” and will “help preserve legal
stability for the industry that fuels America’s economy,” said Tommy
Faucheux, president of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas
Association, in an emailed statement.
In April, jurors in Plaquemines Parish — a sliver of land straddling the
Mississippi River into the Gulf — 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.
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The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17,
2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
“No company is big enough to ignore the law, no company is big
enough to walk away scot-free,” Carmouche told jurors during closing
arguments.
Louisiana’s coastal parishes have lost more than 2,000 square miles
(5,180 square kilometers) of land over the past century, according
to the U.S. Geological Survey, which has also identified oil and gas
infrastructure as a significant cause. The state could lose another
3,000 square miles (7,770 square kilometers) in the coming decades,
its coastal protection agency has warned.
Chevron's attorneys had argued that land loss in Louisiana was
caused by other factors and that the company should not be held
liable for its actions prior to the enactment of a 1980
environmental law requiring companies to obtain permits and restore
land they had used.
The fact that the lawsuits had been delayed for so long due to
questions of jurisdiction was “bordering on absurd,” the
late-federal judge Martin Leach-Cross Feldman remarked in 2022
during oral arguments in one of the lawsuits, according to court
filings. He added: “Frankly, I think it’s kind of shameful.”
Louisiana's Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, a longtime oil and gas
industry supporter, nevertheless made the state a party to the
lawsuits during his tenure as attorney general.
“Virtually every federal court has rejected Chevron's attempt to
avoid liability for knowingly and intentionally violating state
law,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement.
“I'll fight Chevron in state or federal court—either way, they will
not win.”
___
Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America
Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit
national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms
to report on undercovered issues.
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