American energy, imperiled coast
Subtitle: oil and gas development in Louisiana's wetlands
By: Jason P. Theriot
Series: The natural world of the Gulf South; Natural world of the Gulf South
Publisher: Louisiana State University Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 271
ISBN-13: 9780807155172
Subjects: Wetland management; Petroleum industry and trade; Environmental conditions; Wetland conservation
Description: "In American Energy, Imperiled Coast Jason P. Theriot explores the tension between oil and gas development and the land-loss crisis in Louisiana. His book offers an engaging analysis of both the impressive, albeit ecologically destructive, engineering feats that characterized industrial growth in the region and the mounting environmental problems that threaten south Louisiana's communities, culture, and "working" coast. As a historian and coastal Louisiana native, Theriot explains how pipeline technology enabled the expansion of oil and gas delivery--examining previously unseen photographs and company records--and traces the industry's far-reaching environmental footprint in the wetlands. Through detailed research presented in a lively and accessible narrative, Theriot pieces together decades of political, economic, social, and cultural undertakings that clashed in the 1980s and 1990s, when local citizens, scientists, politicians, environmental groups, and oil and gas interests began fighting over the causes and consequences of coastal land loss. The mission to restore coastal Louisiana ultimately collided with the perceived economic necessity of expanding offshore oil and gas development at the turn of the twenty-first century. Theriot's book bridges the gap between these competing objectives. From the discovery of oil and gas below the marshes around coastal salt domes in the 1920s and 1930s to the emergence of environmental sciences and policy reforms in the 1970s to the vast repercussions of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, American Energy, Imperiled Coast ultimately reveals that the natural and man-made forces responsible for rapid environmental change in Louisiana's wetlands over the past century can only be harnessed through collaboration between public and private entities." -- Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: An energy landscape emerges: early coastal oil and gas development; title: Postwar pipelines span the coast: building the three hundred-mile Muskrat line; title: Offshore expansion and environmental reform: the Blue Water pipeline system; title: America's first offshore oil port: LOOP and the science of wetland ecology; title: The coastal erosion crisis: wetland loss and the oil field canal debate; title: The coastal restoration campaign: from the Breaux Act to Coast 2050; title: America's energy coast: redefining restoration in the Gulf; title: Conclusion: a sustainable energy coast for the twenty-first century.