when the spill happened in april two thousand and
we thought to be of a very interesting
time to go in and not only ask with the standard questions we've been asking
about environmental opinions
but ask but the c and ask whether they were in fact changing as we
watch
so the first idea was to ask has this bill affected you and if so
how but secondly to put that in context are have your views changed as a
result of this in anyway
it was very interesting we found the a strong pattern of difference between the two
areas we study
we did about a thousand telephone interviews in too close to purchase louisiana
and about a thousand more in three counties of slopes for the panhandle
both in areas where the will was actually washing ashore both fairly close to be
bp horizon spills by
on both very much affected economically though in somewhat different ways
and we were
controlling for a lot of individual factors we were struck by how different responses were
from the louisiana purchase and the of florida counties or right across to write down
the coast
in general the louisiana resonance were much more likely to say they've been personally affected
by this bill
they were more likely to say their use of been change the result of this
bill
and also because we're asking some sort of bigger questions are there are more likely
to mention that
they had been personally were their community affected by extreme or unusual weather events
and also that they felt that future looking at was written to a greater extent
by rising sea levels do the climate change
all of those for higher in louisiana
but then we also ask questions like well would you support a moratorium on deep
water drilling until new safety measures are implemented and i was much less popular in
louisiana much more so one for you know they have been less affected by this
bill by their own account
similarly we asked a which you think is more or should are
america be increasing the drilling an exploration for well or should we be developing alternative
and renewable energy resources
and are increased drilling was much more popular in louisiana and was in florida
and the third question was sort of a catch all question which do you think
is more important for the future we use resources now the create jobs or to
conserve them for future generations
and the floridians were more likely to seconds are they are
louisiana respondents more often said use them now for jobs
so with this paradox between the louisiana residency more effects of this bill and for
that matter from extreme weather from rising sea level and single use of n change
but the florida resonance
being more supportive of such things as a deep water moratorium until new safety measures
were implemented and the development of alternative energy rather than an increased drilling
well it wasn't really what we expected but as we went back to the previous
research other people are done well before this bill a it made more and more
sense all the most obvious thing here are the economy's that the economy and in
louisiana's extracting something like sixty billion dollars a year
from oil the economy in florida something like sixty billion dollars here from tours
so that both using the coast but in very different ways
and so well this is bringing money into louisiana but well on the features would
take money away from florida would it would harm their livelihood so one part of
is the obvious economic difference but i think beyond that
you have a lot of
culture a lot of development
a lot of history taking two different tracks to the whole twentieth century and how
they use and development and relate to the coast