University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Making oil critical: the criminalization of anti-pipeline protest in the United States

Laurent, Rebecca

Content Files
LAURENT-THESIS-2021.pdf

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/113335

Description

Title
Making oil critical: the criminalization of anti-pipeline protest in the United States
Author(s)
Laurent, Rebecca
Issue Date
2021-07-20
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Johnson, McKenzie
Committee Member(s)
  • Billiot, Shanondora
  • Marshall, Anna-Maria
  • Pahre, Robert
Department of Study
Natural Res & Env Sci
Discipline
Natural Res & Env Sciences
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Date of Ingest
2022-01-12T22:56:12Z
Keyword(s)
  • Environmental studies
  • fossil fuels
  • social movements
  • US politics
  • social control
Abstract
In response to anti-pipeline demonstrations, nearly three-quarters of US states have considered or adopted legislation that defines oil pipelines as “critical infrastructure” and enhances penalties for disrupting their operation. This thesis explores the so-called “Critical Infrastructure Bill” at the conjuncture of oil-related repression and resistance. Drawing on 51 semi-structured interviews with legislators, activists, and lobbyists, we trace the emergence and trajectory of the CIB across diverse political contexts and identify the shifting assemblages of interests, coalitions, and discourse that mediate the bill’s success. We further conduct an in-depth case study analysis of the implementation of the CIB during protests against Louisiana’s Bayou Bridge Pipeline in 2018. We find that the success and implementation of the CIB – as well as the future of energy politics and democracy more broadly – are tied to the distribution of fossil capital entrenched in the modern entanglement between oil and the US police state.
Graduation Semester
2021-08
Type of Resource
Thesis
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/113335
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2021 Rebecca Laurent

Owning Collections

Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois PRIMARY
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois
Dissertations and Theses - Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences