Offshore Oil and the Deepwater Horizon: Social Effects on Gulf Coast Communities: 2010-2011 (phase one)

This study began in September 2010 to measure, document, and describe the effects of the offshore petroleum industry and this disaster on people and communities along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. It will draw on the expertise of community leaders and residents; university researchers; independent scholars; federal, state, and local government officials; business and industry representatives; and members of the not-for-profit sector. The study is being led by Louisiana State University and will involve 2 faculty, 2 postdoctoral researchers, 4 graduate students, and 2 undergraduates from the University of Arizona along with community researchers from three study regions - the Houma Labor Market Area (Assumption, Central and South Lafourche Parish, St. Mary, and Terrebonne Parishes), Louisiana; the New Orleans Labor Market Area (Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, and Washington Parishes), Louisiana; and the region including southeast Mississippi and southwest Alabama (parts of the Mobile and Biloxi-Gulfport Labor Market Areas.