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In some coastal regions of the United States, such as western Louisiana, offshore oil development has long been welcomed. In others, such as northern California, it has been vehemently opposed. This book explores the reasons behind this paradox, looking at the people, the regions, and the issues in sociological and historical contexts.
What has been in very short supply on this issue, as in a growing number of other cases of technological gridlock, is balanced analysis. That is what this book provides. The authors' case studies, derived from interviews with Louisiana and California residents and from environmental impact statements, demonstrate that easy answers are not the most valid ones. The region that should be considered unusual, they find, is coastal Louisiana, where historical, social, and environmental factors combine to favor the offshore oil industry. But this combination of factors, they argue, is unlikely to be found in other coastal regions of the U.S. in the near future.
"This book is extremely well written, so that it reads like an interesting story, even as it chronicles the intermingling of a complex set of cultural, historical, political, economic, and technological factors. It is an excellent sociological analysis which challenges the reader's taken-for-granted assumptions about the nature of offshore drilling and carefully documents the reasons behind the different perceptions and experiences of California and Louisiana residents. The current status of offshore drilling is meaningfully framed by a cultural history of the political economy of the two states." — Jean Blocker, University of Tulsa
List of Acronyms
List of Photographs
Preface
1. Dawn of Discord
2. Getting to Gridlock
3. The Citizens Speak
4. Probing the Paradox
5. Spinning and Slipping
6. A Framework for the Future?
7. Ideology and Impacts
Appendix. The Legal Context
References
Index