In his presentation “Building America’s Energy Corridor: Pipelines, Wetlands, and the Breaux Act,” environmental historian Jason Theriot will talk about how his research in the John Breaux papers at Louisiana State University help his focus, as a fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School for Government, on the impact of recent hurricanes and the Macondo oil spill on Gulf policy developments.

For those who cannot attend the Jan. 30 talk at LSU, there are descriptions available in ArchiveGrid for the Breaux collections that provided an important resources for Theriot’s research. Breaux’s efforts as a former U.S. Senator to secure a steady revenue source for coastal projects through revenue sharing are a central part of Theriot’s narrative and analysis. Theriot’s dissertation and book project, Building America’s Energy Corridor: Oil and Gas Development and Louisiana Wetlands, explores the history of pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico, the environmental implications of oil and gas development for coastal Louisiana, and coastal restoration policy and funding.