The BP Deepwater Horizon Blowout and the Social and Environmental Erosion of the Louisiana Coast

In a lecture that I gave last week at the University of Minnesota, I discussed how the Louisiana Coast was under grave threat from erosion, rising seas, and pollution even before the explosion on the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon platform. Whole communities have vanished under the rising water, and the livelihoods and communities of people who depend on fishing for income has been threatened. The oil spill is a critical blow to these struggling communities and to threatened coastal ecosystems. The lecture argued  that environmental law needs to take a more holistic view, integrating consideration of multiple environmental threats and linking communities with ecosystems.  Video of the lecture, commentators’ remarks, and Q & A available here.

BP Oil Spill, Climate Change, ecosystem management, endangered species, Gulf of Mexico