Episode 4
The Oil Boom in Plantation Country
Why Louisiana?
“Aerial View During Refinery Years.” River Road Historical Society Archive. Destrehan: The Man, The House, The Legacy. Primary Sources
Gov Huey Long Promises No Additional Manufacturing Tax on Industry:
Letter from Governor Huey P. Long to the Couch Committee,” (Teaching American History in Louisiana, Huey P. Long Collection, Louisiana Digital Library), July 20, 1929.
1933 Federal Report on the Safety “of 4 Louisiana Refineries”:
F.E. Cash, “Accident Experience of Four Louisiana Petroleum Refineries.” United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Mines Information Circular. May 1933.
For the life of Alex Royal:
LA State Death Index, 1819-1964
1910 U.S. Census
1920 U.S. Census
1930 U.S. Census
Alex Royal’s death from an explosion at Destrehan can be found on page 18 of the Shreveport Journal’s November 6, 1929 issue.
Watch the full video featured in Episode 4:
Together Louisiana’s video from November of 2018 explaining “Why Louisiana Stays Poor,” when it has a wealth of natural and human resources. Give it a watch!
Environmental History and Justice in Cancer Alley:
Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner, “Ol’ Man River or Cancer Alley?” in Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2013.
Walter Willard, “Environmental Racism: The Merging of Civil Rights and Environmental Activism,” Southern University Law Review 19, No 1. 1992.
For a Biography of Oilman & Magnate E.L. Doheny:
Dan LaBotz, Edward L. Doheny: Petroleum, Power, and Politics in the United States and Mexico. United States: Praeger Publishers. 1991. ABC-CLIO Link
For Geographic & Urban-Planning Perspective of Big Oil in South Louisiana:
Darin Acosta, “The Petrochemical Industrial Complex of the St. Charles Parish Industrial Corridor and its Influence on Urbanization Patterns.” University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations, 2010. University of New Orleans Link
Barbara Allen, “Cradle of a Revolution?: The Industrial Transformation of Louisiana’s Lower Mississippi River.” 2006. ProjectMUSE Link
Steve Lerner, Diamond: A Struggle for Environmental Justice in Louisiana’s Chemical Corridor. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2005. Buy from MIT Press
Lerner’s account of the 1988 explosion can be found in chapter 3. Norco Fact Sheet,” Norco Manufacturing Complex, Shell Oil. Read on Shell's website