How organized resistance to new fossil fuel infrastructure became a political force, and how this might affect the transition to renewable energy.
How organized resistance to new fossil fuel infrastructure became a political force, and how this might affect the transition to renewable energy.
Organized resistance to new fossil fuel infrastructure, particularly conflicts over pipelines, has become a formidable political force in North America. In this book, George Hoberg examines whether such place-based environmental movements are effective ways of promoting climate action, if they might inadvertently feed resistance to the development of renewable energy infrastructure, and what other, more innovative processes of decision-making would encourage the acceptance of clean energy systems. Focusing on a series of conflicts over new oil sands pipelines, Hoberg investigates activists' strategy of blocking fossil fuel infrastructure, often in alliance with Indigenous groups, and examines the political and environmental outcomes of these actions.
After discussing the oil sands policy regime and the relevant political institutions in Canada and the United States, Hoberg analyzes in detail four anti-pipeline campaigns, examining the controversies over the Keystone XL, the most well-known of these movements and the first one to use infrastructure resistance as a core strategy; the Northern Gateway pipeline; the Trans Mountain pipeline; and the Energy East pipeline. He then considers the ""resistance dilemma""- the potential of place-based activism to threaten the much-needed transition to renewable energy. He examines several episodes of resistance to clean energy infrastructure in eastern Canada and the United States. Finally, Hoberg describes some innovative processes of energy decision-making, including strategic environment assessment, and cumulative impact assessment, looking at cases in British Columbia and Lower Alberta.
By:
George Hoberg
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Weight: 368g
ISBN: 9780262543088
ISBN 10: 0262543087
Series: American and Comparative Environmental Policy
Pages: 376
Publication Date: 21 September 2021
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Figures and Tables Series Foreword Preface 1 The Grand Challenge: Mobilizing to Address the Climate Crisis Part I: The Oil Sands Policy Regime 2 The Oil Sands Policy Regime: Resource, Markets, and Politics 3 The Oil Sands Policy Regime: Ideas, Institutions, and Environmental Policies Part II: Pipeline Resistance 4 Keystone XL and the Rise of the Anti-Pipeline Movement 5 The Northern Gateway Pipeline: The Continental Divide in Energy Politics 6 The Trans Mountain Expansion Project: The Politics of Structure 7 After Careful Review of Changed Circumstances: The Demise of Energy East (with Xavier Deschênes-Philion) 8 The Impact of Pipeline Resistance Part III: The Resistance Dilemma 9 The Site C Dam and the Political Barriers to Renewable Energy 10 How Resistance to Renewable Energy Infrastructure Might Frustrate Climate Solutions Part IV: Can Innovative Processes Avoid Paralysis? 11 Overcoming Place-Based Resistance to Renewable Energy Infrastructure 12 Conclusions Notes Bibliography Index
George Hoberg is Professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia.
