In the post--World War II era, Louisiana's coastal wetlands
underwent an industrial transformation that placed the region at
the center of America's energy-producing corridor. By the
twenty-first century the Louisiana Gulf Coast supplied nearly
one-third of America's oil and gas, accounted for half of the
country's refining capacity, and contributed billions of dollars to
the U.S. economy. Today, thousands of miles of pipelines and
related infrastructure link the state's coast to oil and gas
consumers nationwide. During the course of this historic
development, however, the dredging of pipeline canals accelerated
coastal erosion. Currently, 80 percent of the United States'
wetland loss occurs on Louisiana's coast despite the fact that the
state is home to only 40 percent of the nation's wetland acreage,
making evident the enormous unin-tended environmental cost
associated with producing energy from the Gulf Coast.
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.
General
Imprint: |
Louisiana State University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
The Natural World of the Gulf South |
Release date: |
March 2014 |
First published: |
April 2014 |
Authors: |
Jason P. Theriot
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 26mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Paper over boards / With dust jacket
|
Pages: |
328 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8071-5517-2 |
Categories: |
Books >
Professional & Technical >
Environmental engineering & technology >
General
|
LSN: |
0-8071-5517-9 |
Barcode: |
9780807155172 |
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