While the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina destroyed homes, infrastructure and the social fabric in New Orleans, the economic impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill might be worse for the future of the region.
Amy Liu, deputy director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, argues that the oil spill – the worst in American history – has the potential to undermine the basic economic functioning of the New Orleans metro area. The region’s tourism, oil and gas, port and transportation and fishing industries are all dependent on open and clean waterways, which are now threatened due to the spill.
On June 16, Amy Liu answered your questions about the economic impact of the oil spill on the New Orleans region in a live web chat moderated by Seung Min Kim, assistant editor at POLITICO.
