Double exposure and dynamic vulnerability: Assessing economic well-being, ecological change and the development of the oil and gas industry in coastal Louisiana

Abstract

The oil and gas industry has been a powerful driver of economic change in coastal Louisiana for the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st. Yet, the overall impact of the industry on the economic well-being of host communities is varied, both spatially and temporally. While the majority of Louisiana’s oil and gas production now occurs offshore, processing the extracted product is an energy-intensive undertaking requiring an expansive network of land-based infrastructure. Despite the positive economic aspects of this development, there are also potential negatives posed to coastal ecosystems and to communities located adjacent to oil and gas infrastructure. This research utilizes a double exposure framework to explore the relationship between oil and gas infrastructure development, fish and shellfish habitat, and economic well-being in Louisiana’s coastal zone from 1950 to 2010. The approach followed four main steps: (1) Developing a hazardousness of place model to identify areas of magnified risk due to the combined hazards of multiple potential exposure sites related to the extraction and processing of crude oil and natural gas; (2) developing a model of ecological functioning to measure the ability of aquatic habitat to support key fish and shellfish species; (3) utilizing an integrated community economic well-being index to assess change on a decadal timescale; and (4) analyzing selected oil-dependent communities to illustrate how change processes occurring in different energy sectors result in differential outcomes. The results suggest that, for many communities, the dependence on the oil and gas industry has increased economic well-being but also increased sensitivity to natural and human-induced changes, including fluctuating economic conditions, environmental stress, coastal habitat destruction, and increasing social and economic pressures.

Light pollution enhances ground‐level exposure to airborne toxic chemicals for nocturnally migrating passerines

“…The breeding grounds for these species are concentrated around the Great Lakes (Mac Arthur, 1959) and the non‐breeding grounds are concentrated along the Gulf Coast within the Southeast (Ng et al, 2022). The Gulf Coast contains more ATC releasing facilities compared to the Great Lakes (Anenberg & Kalman, 2019), including the largest US petrochemical industrial complex, which is located along the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana (Hemmerling et al, 2020; Meyler et al, 2007). The non‐breeding season occupies the largest portion of these species' annual life cycle (see Figure S1), placing species that winter along the Gulf Coast at considerable risk of long‐term ATC exposure.…”

A community-informed transdisciplinary approach to coastal restoration planning: Maximizing the social and ecological co-benefits of wetland creation in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, USA

“…Between 1960 and, the population of coastal counties along the Gulf of Mexico alone increased by nearly 150 percent, more than twice the rate of increase of the nation's population as a whole (Wilson and Fischetti, 2010). Much of this population is heavily dependent upon a range of natural resources found in the coastal zone for their physical and social wellbeing (Hemmerling et al, 2020c). The state's coastal zone contains approximately 37% of all estuarine marshes in the contiguous United States which provide valuable ecosystem services including water regulation, recreation, fisheries production, carbon sequestration, wave attenuation, and surge reduction (Visser et al, 2012;Batker et al, 2014;Couvillion et al, 2017).…”

Spatial–Temporal Land Loss Modeling and Simulation in a Vulnerable Coast: A Case Study in Coastal Louisiana

“…Coastal Louisiana also produces more petroleum and natural gas than any other state in the nation, contains nearly 30% of the commercial fishing landings of the contiguous United States, and serves as an international harbor for maritime transportation [8][9][10].…”