: the Fight to Save Perdido Bay from Industrial Pollution
by Jacqueline Lane, PhD -
This book tells the story of citizens who have fought for more than forty years—and continue to fight—to protect Perdido Bay.
Drawing on decades of scientific training and field research, marine biologist Jacqueline “Jackie” Lane, PhD, examines the history of the mill’s founding and the region’s logging industry to explain how the industry became deeply embedded in the local economy. Using her expertise in marine ecosystems and water quality, she analyzes how the mill worked to deflect responsibility for pollution, while environmental agencies too often sided with industry rather than enforcing meaningful protections for the bay.
Dr. Lane closely examines environmental regulations, revealing how certain rules and regulatory frameworks actually hindered measurable improvements within the paper industry. She also investigates modern business and political practices to explain how severe pollution has been allowed to continue. Through rigorous scientific analysis, long-term monitoring, and careful review of environmental data, she uncovers how the mill manipulated physical and chemical conditions within this small bay to obscure the true extent of environmental damage caused by its discharges.
Dr. Lane has been fighting this battle for more than fifty years—so yes, this work is deeply personal. In an interview conducted by Andy Marlette for the Pensacola News Journal, published June 20, 2020, she spoke candidly about what she has witnessed firsthand. In the opening line of her amended petition, she wrote:
“For years, I have watched the bay which I have lived on for the past 45 years, deteriorate.”
As a marine biologist who has lived, worked, and conducted research on Perdido Bay for decades, Dr. Lane brings both scientific authority and lived experience to this book. Her fight is grounded in long-term observation, documented evidence, and an unwavering commitment to a bay she has watched decline—despite repeated warnings, clear data, and decades of regulatory inaction.
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*Further reading on this topic:
Published in The Florida Phoenix titled Floridians, be thankful for the pains in the butt by Craig Pittman.
Published in InWeekly Perdido’s Protector Pushes On by Jeremy Morrison
About the Author
(Photo credit: Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com)
Jacqueline Lane, holds a PhD in marine biology and has done research on sand dollars and animals in Perdido Bay, as well as taught part-time at both Pensacola State College and University of West Florida. She founded and is the editor of the Friends of Perdido Bay website, which publishes regular updates and a newsletter about the conditions in the area.