NEW YORK (June 29, 2010) — NRDC Executive Director Peter Lehner, together with Bob Deans, will author the first book on the Gulf oil spill entitled Deepwater Horizon: The Oil Disaster, Its Aftermath, and Our Future.
Published by OR Books, Deepwater Horizon provides a brief account of the disaster as well as the conditions that made it possible — and lays out a blueprint to avoid similar catastrophes in the future.
“The book is not so much about BP as it is about how we got to the point where drilling in inaccessible spots became hugely profitable for oil companies,” said Peter Lehner. “There is a real need for an assessment of the situation that goes beyond criticizing one company’s incompetence. Our oil addiction and how we get rid of it has to be at the heart of these discussions.”
Since the spill occurred, NRDC has been at the forefront of efforts of efforts to ensure this type of catastrophe never happens again. NRDC has had a rapid-response team on the ground in the Gulf documenting the environmental impacts of the oil spill and advocating for local communities. NRDC attorneys and scientists are working to hold BP accountable for the damage it is causing. The organization is also working to make sure the Obama Administration and Congress is doing everything possible to create tough new safeguards that will defend our coastal waters from more disasters and rein in damaging practices by the oil industry.
Prior to becoming NRDC executive director,Peter Lehnerserved as chief of the Environmental Protection Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s office for eight years. He spent five years with NRDC leading its water program in the 1990s and before that created and led the environmental prosecution unit for New York City. He currently teaches environmental law at Columbia University.
Bob Deans is NRDC’s associate communications director and author of the 2007 book The River Where America Began: A Journey Along the James. He is a former president of the White House Correspondents’ Association and spent eight years covering the White House for Cox newspapers. With NRDC President Frances Beinecke, he co-authored the 2009 book Clean Energy Common Sense: An American Call to Action on Global Climate Change.
Paperback copies and e-books of Deepwater Horizon will ship August 9, 2010 with publication September 20, 2010. The book will initially be available only direct from the OR Books website, www.wp.orbooks.com.
(via NRDC)
