Swamp tale: A landman’s long-running environmental whistleblower suit against the state speaks to larger issues about conflict, controversy and trust in the Atchafalaya Basin

For more than 10 years, Dan Collins, a Baton Rouge landman, has been fighting the state of Louisiana in a whistleblower lawsuit over environmental violations he uncovered while doing work in the Atchafalaya Basin for the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Collins won his long-running suit in December 2015, when a jury awarded him $750,000—compensation