For a while now, I’ve been taking inventory of forum comments, news articles, conversations, etc. related to Louisiana’s petrochemical industry. In particular, I’m interested in anything that captures broader public sentiments or complicates simple narratives. I’ve begun compiling these notes into a spreadsheet. This document is by no means comprehensive, but part of a slow effort to map the range of discourse that surrounds oil & gas and other heavy industries in South Louisiana. The methodology is loose, but may evolve over time.
The spreadsheet contains quotes/summaries from studies, news articles, conversations, and books. It also contains comments on message board forums, Youtube videos, and Facebook groups. If the original source is private, then I paraphrase the comment and remove any identifying information. If the source is public-ish, like a public forum post that isn’t regularly trafficked, then I’ll quote the comment directly but not link to it or identify the author. As of the original writing, there are 84 entries from 36 unique sources. I'll continue to update the spreadsheet periodically.
Header image: John McCusker, 1988.