In the Global North, natural gas is often touted as a stepping stone to cleaner energy futures. However, climate activists have argued that natural gas is another dirty fossil fuel that degrades land, pollutes water, and creates toxic air pollution. And like the places where other fossil fuels are extracted or processed, marginalized communities take the brunt of the social, economic, and environmental burden created by extractive industries. Despite this burden, resistance to such projects remains strong in many communities. From the Dakota Access Pipeline resistance at Standing Rock in 2017 to resistance to the Mountain Valley Pipeline in 2023, communities are participating in protests against the corporate greed driving the climate crisis. Tree sits, petitions to regulatory agencies, and legal challenges to the pipeline company were just a few of the ways that activists in Appalachia successfully stymied the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for over 3 years. But in June 2023, President Biden signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act, approving all outstanding permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline and restricting further court oversight. With this detrimental ruling, pipeline construction is now nearly complete, but direct actions and protests continue. Increasingly, participants in non-violent actions against fossil fuel projects are being met with SLAPP suits intended to intimidate activists by silencing their critiques and suppressing further action. Furthermore, legislative actions, as well as legal precedents in courtrooms, demonstrate the power of the fossil fuel industry to complete projects, regardless of existing environmental regulations and the will of the people. 

This panel seeks a wide range of papers that examine the intersections of protest and pipelines, including (but not limited to): environmental justice concerns with fossil fuel projects; precedent setting related to fossil fuel projects; state sanctioned violence against protest; decolonizing climate activism; and industry and police collusion against protesters.

Organizers: Julie Shepherd-Powell & Steve Trinkle

Please submit abstracts to Julie Shepherd-Powell at shepherdpowellja@appstate.edu by 15 December 2023. 

Modality: In-person