Grassroots resistance to energy project encroachment: Analyzing environmental mobilization against the Keystone XL Pipeline

Abstract

ABSTRACT The rapid expansion of the oil and gas industry, driven by intentional energy policy decisions which unlock growth, represents a distinct threat to community safety. In response to this encroaching energy landscape, localized mobilizations have emerged. While the tactics of these social movements are important, this article focuses on their concern of protecting shared natural resources. Using the grassroots opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline in rural Nebraska as a case study, we highlight how neoliberal policies and environmentally risky energy projects have facilitated civil society coalition-building to protect natural resources and fight climate change. Historically, social movements have been driven by strong civic activism and progressive organizsing efforts. This article asks: are localized, goal-oriented movements more likely to form stronger civic ties than the greater environmental movement? Landowner concern about the risks associated with pipeline were not enough to mobilize farmers, ranchers, and concerned citizens; it took the organizing efforts of the grassroots civil society organization Bold Nebraska to unify landowners and communities along the pipeline’s route. Utilizing extensive fieldwork focused on the Keystone XL opposition movement in Nebraska, this study argues that environmental movements based on local coalitions have the potential to fortify future environmental protection.