Oral History Interview of Jim Blackburn

Title: Oral History Interview of Jim Blackburn
Description: Jim Blackburn talks about growing up hunting and fishing in the Rio Grande Valley and in Central Louisiana. He started law school in 1969 at the University of Texas at Austin, a time when federal environmental legislation just started to be passed. Blackburn then went on to Rice University to earn a master’s degree in environmental science and started his career as an environmental lawyer. He reflects on some of his most memorable cases over the years. He then discusses the case The Aransas Project v. Bryan Shaw et al. (TAP v. Shaw), which dealt with the deaths of twenty-three whooping cranes due to the lack of freshwater inflow into San Antonio Bay. The case eventually made it to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where they lost the case. Afterwards, however, they reached a settlement with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority. Blackburn also brings up the concept of the radical center and its importance for dealing with environmental issues. The interview ends with Blackburn reading a couple poems he wrote during TAP v. Shaw.
Creator: Jim Blackburn
Contributor: Jen Brown
Date: June 30, 2022
Location of Interview: Houston, Texas
Format: mp3
Extent: 00:48:40
Subject: hunting
fishing
environmental law
University of Texas at Austin
Rice University
San Antonio Bay
whooping cranes
Senate Bill 3 (2007)
Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority
poetry