Louisiana

Louisiana's economy is shaped by the Mississippi River's delta—a geographic feature that creates both extraordinary advantage and existential vulnerability. The Port of South Louisiana ranks as the largest in the Western Hemisphere by tonnage, handling grain, petroleum, and chemicals that flow between America's heartland and global markets. This position made Louisiana a petrochemical hub: refineries and chemical plants line the river corridor, processing crude oil into the fuels and feedstocks that power the national economy.

But the same geography invites destruction. Hurricanes Katrina (2005), Ida (2021), and others have repeatedly devastated coastal infrastructure, with sea level rise and wetland loss making each storm more damaging. New Orleans itself sits below sea level, protected by a levee system whose failure in Katrina demonstrated catastrophic risk. The petrochemical industry's carbon emissions accelerate the climate change that intensifies the storms threatening its facilities—a feedback loop with dark implications.

Louisiana ranks among America's poorest states despite its resource wealth, exhibiting classic resource-curse dynamics. Oil revenues flow to Baton Rouge but don't translate into broad prosperity. Educated workers leave for Texas or elsewhere, while hurricanes periodically reset economic progress. The state's position as America's petrochemical artery remains secure, but the workers and communities along Cancer Alley bear health costs that GDP figures obscure.