Oil and Gas and Coastal Land Loss: Who’s to Blame?

I was at the Tulane Environmental Law Conference last Saturday and managed to catch an interesting session on “Oil and Gas Development and Liability.”

Eugene Turner from the Coastal Ecology Institute at LSU was the first speaker. He presented some pretty compelling evidence that land loss rates on the coast correlate very highly with oil and gas canal development. His bottom line was that the canals have clearly played a role in coastal wetland loss.

Up next was Duke Williams, an attorney who believes that the oil and gas industry needs to own up to its role in coastal destruction and help pay for restoration. By Williams’ account, the oil and gas industry is to blame for roughly 33% of coastal marsh loss. Williams, who works for the law firm, St. Martin & Williams has filed a lawsuit against a number of companies, including Shell, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron, seeking damages for destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina due to the loss of coastal wetlands.

The final speaker in the session was Michael Lyons with the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association (representing the oil and gas industry). Lyons gave a presentation on the problems of coastal land loss and the need for the people of Louisiana to work together to solve the problem. His take was that “we are all to blame for the coastal land loss that has happened,” and that it’s too simplistic to just blame oil and gas because there are many other factors at work, including subsidence. Lyons emphasized that we all need to stop arguing and join together to restore the coast. This guy had a slick presentation. Why be negative and hold anyone accountable for coastal land loss?

Later in the session, Professor Oliver Houck asked why someone from Iowa or another state should have to pay for coastal restoration when we can attribute roughly 1/3 of the loss to the oil and gas industry. Why shouldn’t they be willing to pay for their share? Lyon’s response was that there were so many factors contributing to coastal land loss, such as Mississippi River levies, and that we need to be concentrating on solutions because there is a crisis. Duke Williams made the point that oil and gas companies are taking home billions in profits and will benefit directly from any coastal restoration which will better protect oil and gas pipelines and infrastructure.

One thing was clear from the session, and that is that the oil and gas industry doesn’t believe in paying for what it has done to Louisiana’s coast. This is the same industry that, according to the GAO, is getting $20 billion in subsidies to drill in the Gulf. Katrina doesn’t appear to have changed the industry’s attitude, and they seem to prefer to make everyone pay for coastal restoration rather than accept responsibility for any part of the mess they helped create.

Jeff Grimes is the GRN's Outreach Associate