:. articles
SHELL GAMES
Day 1
SHELL GAMES
05/04/03
Hundreds of oystermen
who traditionally eked out a living in the waters off St. Bernard and
Plaquemines parishes stand to reap $2 billion from a different source --
class-action lawsuits. Despite record harvests, they've convinced local
courts that an environmental project to improve oystering has instead
decimated their crops. Allowed to stand, the judgment places the state's
ambitious plans to rebuild coastal marshes in peril. Catch subsequent
installments of this feature every Sunday during the month of May 2003.
•
Oyster
farmers initially backed project
05/04/03
•
OIL INDUSTRY
PUMPS UP OYSTER FARMS
05/04/03
Day 2
GROUNDS TO SUE
05/11/03
Soon after it opened in 1991, the Caernarvon Diversion was turned on full
blast at the behest of influential landowners worried about land loss. A
project designed to help oystering hurt it instead, as the cascade of
muddy river water decimated some oyster beds. The state's hesitation to
correct its mistake and settle grower's claims led to $2 billion in
judgments that threaten to derail future marsh-restoration projects.
5/11/03
Day 3
SINKING CHANGES
05/18/03
Rebuffed in federal court, oyster growers found allies in the courts of
St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, where local judges and a local jury
awarded them about $2 billion.
05/18/03
MURKY WATERS 05/25/03
Just when it seemed an ambitious program to restore Louisiana's coast would finally come to fruition, a series of court awards to oyster farmers was issued, and now the entire $14 billion plan could be washed away.
05/25/03
