Reproducing extractivism: A political ecology analysis of strategic environmental assessment and hydrocarbon extraction in the Arctic

Scholars have promoted strategic environment assessments as a solution to the limitations inherent in project-specific environmental assessment. This paper uses a political ecology approach to examine two strategic assessments of offshore hydrocarbon extraction in Arctic Canada. It focuses on ascertaining whether the strategic assessments reproduced the limitations that political ecologists have identified with project-specific assessments, especially the tendency to legitimize status-quo extractivism. Our analysis identifies significant differences between the two assessments in terms of scope, transparency, and treatment of economic alternatives, with one assessment more transparent, robust, and critical of hydrocarbon extraction than the other. However, both strategic assessments were limited by factors political ecologists have identified with project-specific assessment, including reproducing and legitimizing extractivist development paradigms. Drawing on a strategic −relational approach to political ecology, we argue that the differences between the two assessments, as well as their shared limitations, can be partially explained by the different balance of forces surrounding hydrocarbon extraction in each region. Because of their flexible and ad hoc nature, strategic assessments are seemingly more sensitive to variations in political context than their project-specific counterparts. In temporal and geographic contexts where the balance of forces is tilted in favor of extractive industries, strategic assessments are increasingly likely to produce outcomes favourable to industry.