Transforming Oil Activism: From Legal Constraints to Evidenciary Opportunity

Abstract

Purpose – This research explores how social movement activists work to influence the framing of oil spill impacts, and related scientific and political processes. It focuses on the Louisiana Bucket Brigade (LABB), an environmental justice organization that has worked in the Gulf Coast, and looks particularly at the experience of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

Design/methodology – Research is based on qualitative interviews, ethnographic observations, and video data with local social movement organizations, grassroots groups, spill workers, fishermen, local residents, scientists, and government representatives during three time periods, in 2010 within five months of the spill, Fall of 2011, and Summer of 2012.

Findings – Legal institutional constrictions inherent in official oil spill assessments and cleanup processes fostered a transformation in activist tactics and the communities they seek to represent.

Originality/value of the paper – Social movement activism has not often been studied in response to an oil spill. This chapter demonstrates how such an event shapes activism, and how activism has an effect on local responses to the event.

Citation

McCormick, S. (2012), "Transforming Oil Activism: From Legal Constraints to Evidenciary Opportunity", Deflem, M. (Ed.) Disasters, Hazards and Law (Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Vol. 17), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 113-131. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1521-6136(2012)0000017009