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F r i d ay, M a r c h 14, 2025
Oil company facing coastal damages suit Billions at stake in Plaquemines Parish courtroom
Wall Street tumbles 10% below its record
Uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs, trade war fuels decline
BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer
A colossal Louisiana legal showdown began this week in a Plaquemines Parish courtroom, as attorney John Carmouche, who has led a statewide fight to make the energy industry pay for damage to coastal wetlands, squared off against oil companies in the first of more than three dozen landmark lawsuits to go to trial. The case, Plaquemines Parish v. Rozel, filed in 25th Judicial District Court, centers on claims that Texaco, an oil company now owned by Chevron, discharged pollutants into wetlands near Bayou Gentilly over more than half a century, and broke other state laws and permitting rules that led to land loss and other environmental issues. The company has said it complied with all applicable regulations. The trial has taken on outsize importance. If the parish prevails, the resulting damages and required coastal reconstruction would likely serve as a model for the 40 addition-
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BY STAN CHOE Associated Press
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Attorney John Carmouche, center, walks to the Plaquemines Parish Courthouse in Pointe à la Hache on Tuesday. al lawsuits Carmouche has filed on behalf of Plaquemines and five other coastal parishes — which could reach into the billions of dollars. If the oil companies win, it could raise doubts about how other cases may fare in front of juries and make lower settlements — or no settlements — more likely. Carmouche’s team is asking for more than $3 billion in damages
from Chevron in the trial that’s now underway. Those funds would by law have to be used to restore the damaged area. Payouts to attorneys could be substantial as well. In opening statements Thursday, Carmouche argued before the jury of six men and six women that the oil company had knowingly caused
ä See SUIT, page 7A
A rusted oil pipeline in the Bayou Gentilly oil field has been abandoned, according to lawyers representing Plaquemines Parish in their lawsuit against oil and gas companies. STAFF FILE PHOTO By MATTHEW HINTON
NEW YORK — Wall Street’s sell-off hit a new low Thursday after President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war dragged the S&P 500 more than 10% below its record, which was set just last month. A 10% drop is a big enough deal that professional investors have a name for it — a “correction” — and the S&P 500’s 1.4% slide on Thursday sent the index to its first since 2023. The losses came after Trump upped the stakes in his trade war by threatening huge taxes on European wines and alcohol. ä Trump’s Not even a double shot of good policies have news on the U.S. economy could thrown G7 stop the bleeding. countries’ The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 537 points, or once solid 1.3% Thursday, and the Nasdaq unity into composite fell 2%. disarray. The dizzying, battering PAGE 4A swings for stocks have been ä A 10% coming not just day to day but drop for stocks also hour to hour, and the Dow isn’t that rare. hurtled between a slight gain and a drop of 689 points on PAGE 6A Thursday. The turbulence is a result of uncertainty about how much pain Trump will let the economy endure through tariffs and other policies in order to reshape the country and world as he wants. The president has said he wants manufacturing jobs back in the United States, along with a smaller U.S. government workforce and other fundamental changes. Trump’s latest escalation came Thursday when he threatened 200% tariffs on Champagne and other European wines, unless the European Union rolls back a “nasty” tariff announced on U.S. whiskey. The European Union unveiled that move on Wednesday, in response to U.S. tariffs on European steel and aluminum. U.S. households and businesses have already reported drops in confidence because of all the uncertainty about which tariffs will stick from Trump’s barrage of on-again, off-again announcements. That’s raised fears about a pullback in spending that could sap energy from the economy. Some U.S. businesses say they’ve already begun to see a change in their customers’ behavior
ä See TUMBLES, page 5A
‘His death will not provide closure’
Youngsville increases police presence at Mardi Gras
with their feelings under As inmate’s execution reckon a media glare, Elliott wrote in a late Wednesday. day nears, victim’s statement “There is something about knowhusband torn ing it could actually finally happen that has forced all of us to relive over process the past tragedy and re-examine
BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer
As Youngsville’s Mardi Gras parade continues to grow in popularity, so too does the number of law enforcement personnel needed to ensure the safety of the small town and its visitors. This year’s Mardi Gras festivities saw anywhere from 89,000 upward to 100,000 people entering the city of Youngsville, said Police Chief JP Broussard, or about a 9% increase compared to last year. Policing and ensuring safety for the ever-rising number of revelers required new and increased security measures in light of recent events like the New Year’s terror attack in New Orleans. Those measures included blocking roadways with dump trucks and excavators,
BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE
Police estimate the youngsville Mardi Gras Parade drew ä See YOUNGSVILLE, page 7A up to 100,000 people to the city this year.
WEATHER HIGH 80 LOW 66 PAGE 10C
It’s been nearly 30 years since a duck hunter found his wife Molly shot dead and naked on Thanksgiving Day by the Middle Pearl River. Andy Elliott says he isn’t sure now if he wants her killer, Jessie Hoffman Jr., to be executed on Tuesday, as the state has planned, or to die in prison. But the March 18 date that a St. Tammany Parish judge has set for Hoffman to become the first death row inmate to be executed in Louisiana by nitrogen gas has filled the family with dread, forced to
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our true feelings,” Elliott wrote. “The reality is this: after this much time passing, I’ve become indifferent to the death penalty vs. life in prison without possibility of parole. However, I’m not indifferent to the uncertainty that has accompanied these many years. If putting him to death is the easiest way to end the uncertainty, then on balance I favor that solution. But, his death will not provide closure. “Anyone who has experienced a tragedy of this magnitude will recognize the absolute truth — Molly’s and my families and friends lost a great human being to a senseless
ä See CLOSURE, page 5A
100TH yEAR, NO. 257