1:11:05
In 1979...
1:11:07
...his oil company punched some holes
in Terrebonne Parish and hit oil.
1:11:11
A lot of oil.
1:11:13
He needed governmental permission...
1:11:15
... to dredge a channel though
the marshlands to get the oil out.
1:11:20
Enter Mattiece,
the great campaign contributor...
1:11:23
...and as night follows day...
1:11:25
...government permission
to gouge through the endangered marshes.
1:11:30
Mattiece is that close
to at least a billion dollars...
1:11:33
... when Green Fund...
1:11:35
...an obscure environmental outfit...
1:11:37
... trots down to the U.S. District court
in Lafayette and files a lawsuit...
1:11:41
... to stop the entire operation.
1:11:44
Of course, Mattiece spares no expense
to win the lawsuit.
1:11:47
I don't think there's a top law firm
between Houston and New Orleans...
1:11:52
... that he hasn't hired.
1:11:54
Fucking PBS!
1:11:56
By the time the Green Fund lawyers...
1:11:59
...all two of them...
1:12:00
... wade in, the joint ventures...
1:12:02
...limited partnerships and corporate
associations...
1:12:06
...form an impenetrable maze
that makes Mattiece invisible.
1:12:10
Luckily for the Green Fund's lawsuit...
1:12:12
... the heart of the new oil reserve
is near a natural refuge for waterfowl:
1:12:17
Osprey, egrets, pelicans,
ducks, cranes, geese.
1:12:22
The pelican becomes the hero.
1:12:24
After 30 years of contamination
by DDT and other pesticides...
1:12:29
... the Louisiana brown pelican is
on the brink of extinction.
1:12:33
Green Fund seizes the bird
and enlists experts...
1:12:36
...from around the country
to testify on its behalf.
1:12:39
It takes 7 years for the pelican suit
to go to trial in Lake Charles.
1:12:44
The 3-man jury, caring less
about the pelicans than jobs...
1:12:48
... votes in favor of Mattiece.
1:12:51
But the judge rules to keep the
injunction against drilling because...
1:12:55
...he thinks Green Fund has proven
its point about the pelican...
1:12:59
...a federally-protected species,
and that it will appeal.