Finger in the Dike: Oliver a Houck & the Environmental Movement

Abstract:     
In the post-Katrina era Oliver A. Houck, Professor of Law at Tulane University Law School, in New Orleans, Louisiana, my teacher and friend, has once again been proven right about the deterioration of Louisiana's environment. It is a position he does not revel in. For he saw the city that he loves and that has been his home for over a quarter of a century disintegrate from under his very feet, like the mud that pours off a crawfish's claws when he is picked-up from a bayou floor.

Houck has been a mentor to many a student who was bitten by the environmental law bug that the professor infused through his language, passion, courage and example. In this article/tribute I review Ollie's scholarship, his vision in pushing the administration of Dean John Kramer, to establish the Tulane Environmental Law Journal and hiring Bob Kuehn to take the helm of the newly created Tulane Environmental Law Clinic.

Keywords: Environment, Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana, Mentor, New Orleans, Oliver Houck, Tulane Law School, Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, Tulane Environmental law Journal

JEL Classification: K10, K19, K20, K23, K30, K32, K40, K41, K49, L50

Accepted Paper Series