Despite the Trump administration’s attempt to establish U.S. energy dominance, Louisiana, a major energy country, is still dominated by another force: trial lawyers. [emphasis, links added]
In an April verdict, a jury in Louisiana's 25th Judicial District ruled that Chevron had to pay $745 million in damages to the plaquemines parish government for environmental damage related to oil and gas activities Texaco received in 2001 by Chevron.
The plaquemines case is the first case of litigation flooding, threatening to flood the industry in states where the national energy agenda is crucial.
Louisiana's liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry has flourished since 2010. Energy now provides about 10% of the state’s jobs and generates 20% of its total products.
Louisiana ranks only second only to Texas by dollar value, and it is the main launch pad for LNG exports that will save American allies in Europe and Asia from relying on hostile regimes.
However, in addition to plaquemines, more than 40 similar lawsuits are under trial, raised by the parish seeking to assume financial responsibility for oil and gas companies amid decades of coastal land losses.
The verdict against Chevron sets a dangerous precedent to extract billions of dollars from industries essential to the U.S. global economic strategy.
Governor Landry and his allies in trial attorneys are drying out the state’s outstanding departments with false environmental excuses.
Ten years ago, sociologist Arlie Hochschild was Strangers on their own land Louisians who are swinged by cultural loyalty are too forgiving industries that harm the local environment.
Hochschild and other national observers may now imagine that the people of Bayou State have taken the initiative wisely and taken initiatives against powerful interests.
But the truth is Grubir.
The plaquemines case backed by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry was argued by one of the governor’s largest donors, serial plaintiff attorney John Carmouche.
These lawsuits are not populist uprisings, but represent familiar patterns of politically connected insiders, real or not.
Indeed, the question of the plaquemines judgment is beyond the scope of the litigator. The judgment divides damages into $160 million for polluting waters, $10 million for abandoned equipment and $575 million for causing coastal erosion.
Even if the claims of pollution and equipment are valuable, the claims of erosion lack causal support.
The genetic geography of the plaquemines parish has been in a state of constant change in nature. The land in the southeastern corner of the state is at dangerously high altitudes and has been at the mercy of the seasonal flow of the Mississippi River.
Land loss has indeed become a real problem for the 25,000 residents of the parish and residents of coastal rivers in the state in recent decades. Notably, Louisiana loses the value of the football field every hour. But oil and gas activities are not the culprit.
The main driver of coastal erosion was Louisiana's decision to direct the Mississippi River directly to the bay with the support of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers instead of allowing its usual changes.
Historically, annual river floods have deposited millions of tons of patches and other sediments from the parishes that strengthen drylands.
Guide rivers and building embankments to prevent catastrophic flood cuts in cities such as New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
This feat of geoengineering successfully protected millions of Louisianans from harm and gained billions of dollars in economic activity, but caused gradual land loss at the expense of predictable costs in the southeast corner of Louisiana.
Another factor that floods southeast Louisiana is rising sea levels. While greenhouse gas emissions are the cause of warming sea levels that rise, the problem is outside the scope of the plaquemines case.
Southeast Louisiana will remain one of the most vulnerable hurricane landing areas in the United States. These risks will continue, regardless of the judgment.
Utilitarian river management decisions and natural vulnerabilities are ail plaquemines and other coastal parishes. Governor Landry and his allies in trial attorneys are drying out the state’s outstanding departments with false environmental excuses.
The verdict of the Plaquemines parish and the dozens of imminent cases behind it endangered the U.S. energy revival, through forgery, retroactive fines to drive national growth.
This opportunistic snatch from political insiders is disguised as environmental justice, undermining Louisiana's energy sector and true climate resilience.
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