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(Reuters) – Chevron was ordered to pay $740 million to restore damages the oil and gas major caused to southeast Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, the Associated Press reported on Friday.
The ruling — delivered by a jury — awarded $575 million for land loss compensation, $161 million to compensate for contamination and $8 million for abandoned equipment, the report added.
The lawsuit was originally filed by the Plaquemines Parish, a rural district in Louisiana, in 2013.
Louisiana coastal laws mandate that all mineral and exploration sites used by energy companies must be “cleared, revegetated, detoxified, and otherwise restored as near as practicable to their original condition upon termination of operations.”
However, jurors found that Texaco — a company acquired by Chevron in 2001 — violated the state’s 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 AP said.
Chevron did not obtain proper permits and failed to clean up its mess, leading to contamination from wastewater stored unsafely or dumped directly into the marsh, the report added, citing the lawsuit.
Chevron and Plaquemines Parish Government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona
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