Shell Game: One Family's Long Battle Against Big Oil

by J. Michael Veron

Shell Oil was accustomed to getting its way in Louisiana. With deep pockets, teams of attorneys, and influential lobbyists in the state legislature, the second-largest oil company in the world could demand--and get--essentially anything it wanted. Until it met Michael Veron and his family.

Shell Game is the dramatic, fast-paced true account of a nine-year battle pitting a Louisiana family of modest means against Shell in an effort to clean up decades of pollution on the family’s property. Bullied, intimidated, and dubbed “the Beverly Hillbillies” by Shell’s highly paid attorneys, author Michael Veron’s relatives refused to buckle—and continued their fight against tremendous odds.

A small-town lawyer, Veron led the fight against Shell. His first-person account of the struggle is gripping, tense, and ultimately uplifting. It is a story of greed and great passion and of one family’s refusal to back down in the face of unrelenting pressure. Shell Game is the story of how one family not only righted a wrong, but also changed the way oil companies operate.

258 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2007