Lube Job

Summary: Produced by two veteran journalists, Lube Job uncovers the oil and gas industries role in what could be one of the greatest environmental catastrophes in modern times, an ecological tragedy that threatens to eradicate much of southern Louisiana, including its revered fishing trade and age-old way of life. Louisiana supplies 30% of America's oil and gas, extracted largely from the state's coastal freshwater marshes, home for over 200 years to the region's unique Cajun culture and the source of 30% of the nation's seafood. More than 15,000 miles of pipeline canals dredged by the oil and gas giants now crisscross that landscape, enabling destructive salt water to wash in and erode up to a football field of land every hour -- taking with it wetlands vital to helping protect Louisiana from the ravages of major storms like Hurricane Katrina and to sustaining Cajun fishermen and their way of life. With archival footage and expert commentary, Lube Job explores the industry's beginnings in 1901 through the unregulated oil boom of the 1930's, to the decades of corruption that followed. The film presents proof of the industry's knowledge of the consequences of its actions and corrupt intent, disclosing internal memos and dramatic photographs. Stunning aerial footage shows the extent of wetlands destruction. Featuring leading historians, scientists, authors, politicians, oil industry executives and the Cajun people who know the area best, Lube Job also looks at legal efforts to make the oil industry accountable, and what it will take to restore the wetlands and protect the threatened Louisiana coast, including New Orleans, before it vanishes altogether.