Superport will be located in Lafourche, so employment will 

 increase there as a result of the construction and operation 

 of these facilities, peaking in 1990. 



4.2 — PUBLIC INTEREST AND ATTITUDE 



Of course, the area of greatest OCS development impact 

 on the Gulf Coast is the coastal zone of Louisiana. Surveys 

 have shown that people generally are aware that the coastal 

 zone is important to Louisiana. As might be expected, aware- 

 ness of environmental problems increases with higher levels of 

 education and income, and among those living in urban areas 

 (Patterson and Pinhey, 1976). A recent survey by Lindsey et al. 1976) 

 shows that well over half of Louisiana residents (58.6%) feel 

 that Louisiana benefits more from its coastal zone than other 

 states benefit from their coastal areas. In addition , 83 percent 

 feel that swamps and marshland have value for various rea- 

 sons (Table 4.8). As shown in the table , ecological productivity 

 is the most often cited reason with fishing and oil and gas 

 activities second and third, respectively. When asked about 

 the most important economic activity in the coastal zone, both 

 present and future, Louisianians felt that mineral extraction 

 and commercial fishing were identified as first and second in 

 importance with water transportation a distant third. It is 

 interesting to note that among residents of the coastal zone, 

 a greater percentage perceive that mineral extraction will be 

 the most important economic activity in the future than 

 believe that it is the most important activity now, and that 



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