Environmental Science, Social Justice, and the Politics of Petroleum: An Analysis of the Red River Boundary Dispute

环境科学、社会正义和石油政治：红河边界争端分析

• 批准号: 0621187
• 负责人: Eugene Cittadino
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Cittadino Eugene
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-08-01 至 2009-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0621187&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Environmental; Science; Social; Justice; Politics

The aim of this project is to undertake a thorough study of a 1920s American borderdispute that was settled by the Supreme Court and which made extensive use of scientific expert witnesses from the environmental sciences. The dispute involved the states of Oklahoma and Texas, oil speculators, Native Americans, the two most prominent plant ecologists in the U.S., Henry Chandler Cowles and Frederic Clements, geographer Isaiah Bowman, and leading geologists and topographical engineers. The goal of the project is to write two or three articles, with the ultimate aim of producing book on the dispute which focuses on expert testimony and examines this episode within the context of science and law, debates over use of public lands, resource management, Native American rights, and national petroleum policy. To carry out this project, the PI will visit archives in Washington, Baltimore, New York, Austin, Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, and Laramie, and will conduct a thorough review of published sources. Intellectual merit. The Red River case presents a unique opportunity for a thorough historical study of a complex legal dispute that made liberal use of scientific experts in many fields in an effort to reconstruct the topographical history of a small section of a river a century before. Abundant source material provides an unusual opportunity for a detailed study that will examine the scientific issues in depth, place them within the context of contemporary knowledge in the respective fields, and analyze the relationship between lawyers and scientists, different standards of evidence in science and the legal profession, and criteria for admissibility of expert evidence in the courts. Law and science has been receiving considerable attention for many years, but little scholarship in this area has been done by historians of science. The scientific disagreements expressed in expert testimony were played out against a background of debates over the proper use of public land, the conservation of natural resources, and the role of the federal government in monitoring and regulating land and mineral resources, including use of scientific experts to shape policy. This study will show that these background issues colored the testimony itself. Broader impacts. Although this may seem like one of many legal disputes over valuable mineral land, the Red River boundary dispute, explored fully, will provide a kind of snapshot into a range of issues that were critical to this nation in the early 20th century and remain critical today: the proper use of land and resources, the relationship between science and government, science and law, the treatment of Native Americans, the limits of individual freedom as regarding use of land and its resources, the limits of government in restricting individual freedom on these matters. This episode spanned a critical period between the Progressive era and the New Deal, that was influential in shaping future foreign and domestic policy. As speculators rushed to extract oil from the Red River and other sites in the Southwest, experts warned of impending oil shortages and the need to turn to foreign sources. Others spoke of the moral imperative of conservation. The projected book will shed light on all of these issues while offering a detailed case study that should appeal to students and teachers in history of science, environmental history, social history, Southwestern history, and science and technology studies. It will be of interest to anyone concerned with the role of scientific experts in our society, Native American rights, land tenure, and the development of U.S. energy policy.

该项目的目的是对1920年代由最高法院解决的美国边界争端进行彻底研究，该争端广泛利用了环境科学方面的科学专家证人。这场争端涉及俄克拉荷马州和得克萨斯州，石油投机商，美洲原住民，美国两个最著名的植物生态学家，亨利钱德勒考尔斯和弗雷德里克克莱门茨，地理学家以赛亚鲍曼，以及领先的地质学家和地形工程师。该项目的目标是写两到三篇文章，最终目的是制作一本关于争议的书，重点是专家证词，并在科学和法律的背景下审查这一事件，关于公共土地使用的辩论，资源管理，美洲原住民权利和国家石油政策。为了开展这一项目，PI将访问华盛顿、巴尔的摩、纽约、奥斯汀、沃斯堡、俄克拉荷马州市和拉勒米的档案馆，并将对已发表的资料进行彻底审查。 智力上的优点。红河一案提供了一个独特的机会，可以对一场复杂的法律的争端进行彻底的历史研究，这场争端充分利用了许多领域的科学专家，努力重建世纪前一小段河流的地形历史。丰富的原始资料提供了一个不寻常的机会，将深入研究科学问题，把它们放在各自领域的当代知识的背景下，并分析律师和科学家之间的关系，科学和法律的专业证据的不同标准，以及法庭上专家证据的可采性标准。法律和科学多年来一直受到相当大的关注，但科学史家在这方面的研究很少。专家证词中表达的科学分歧是在辩论公共土地的适当使用、自然资源的保护以及联邦政府在监督和管理土地和矿产资源方面的作用（包括利用科学专家制定政策）的背景下进行的。这项研究将表明，这些背景问题影响了证词本身。 更广泛的影响。虽然这看起来像是对宝贵的矿产土地的许多法律的纠纷之一，红河边界纠纷，充分探讨，将提供一种快照到一系列问题，是至关重要的这个国家在20世纪初，今天仍然至关重要：土地和资源的合理使用，科学与政府的关系，科学与法律，美洲原住民的待遇，个人在使用土地及其资源方面的自由的限制，政府在这些问题上限制个人自由的限制。这一事件跨越了进步时代和新政之间的关键时期，这对塑造未来的外交和国内政策产生了影响。当投机者们争先恐后地从红河和西南部的其他地方开采石油时，专家们警告说，石油短缺迫在眉睫，需要转向国外。其他人则谈到了保护环境的道德责任。这本书将阐明所有这些问题，同时提供一个详细的案例研究，应该呼吁学生和教师在科学史，环境史，社会史，西南历史和科学技术研究。这将是感兴趣的任何人关心的作用，科学专家在我们的社会，美洲原住民的权利，土地保有权，以及美国的发展能源政策。