Pipeline Pedagogy: Teaching About Energy and Environmental Justice Contestations (AESS Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies and Sciences Series)

The proliferation of pipelines to transport oil and natural gas represents a major area of contestation in the landscape of energy development. Battles over energy pipelines pit private landowners, local community representatives, and environmentalists against energy corporations and industry supporters, sometimes drawing opposition and attention from well beyond the impacted regions, as in the case of the Standing Rock/Dakota Access Pipeline. Stakeholders must navigate complex government regulatory processes, interpret technical and scientific reports, and endure lengthy and expensive court battles. As with other forms of environmental injustice, the contentious construction of pipelines often disproportionately impacts communities of lower economic development, people of color, and indigenous peoples; pipelines also pose potential short and long-term health and safety threats. With the expansion of energy pipelines carrying fracked oil and gas across the United States and abroad, the moment is ripe for teaching about pipeline projects and engaging students and community members in learning about methods for mobilization. Our volume examines pedagogical opportunities, challenges, and interventions that campus-community engagement, and other kinds of community engagement, produce in relation to infrastructuring in the form of pipeline development.-- Provided by publisher Foreword 7 References 9 Preface and Acknowledgments 10 Acknowledgments 11 Contents 12 1 Introduction to Pipeline Pedagogy: Teaching About Energy and Environmental Justice Contestations 14 1.1 Why Teach About Fossil Fuel Pipelines? 14 1.2 Educational Contexts for Analyzing Energy Contestations 15 1.3 Ways of Teaching About Energy Contestations 17 1.3.1 Teaching and Learning Across Disciplines 18 1.3.2 Tools and Methods for Teaching Pipeline Controversies 19 1.3.3 Mobilizing Pipeline Politics 20 References 20 Part ITeaching and Learning Across Disciplines 23 2 The Pipeline Case: Cross-Disciplinary Learning and Pedagogical Lessons from the Mountain Valley Pipeline 24 2.1 Introduction 25 2.2 The Mountain Valley Pipeline Case 26 2.3 The Mountain Valley Pipeline in the Roanoke College Curriculum 27 2.3.1 Program-Level Goals and Theoretical Frameworks 28 2.3.2 MVP Case Implementation in Specific Courses 30 2.3.3 Co-curricular Events Related to the MVP 32 2.3.4 Course-Level Assessment 33 2.4 Assessment: How Successful Was the Incorporation of the MVP Case? 34 2.4.1 Program-Level 34 2.4.2 Survey Results 35 2.5 Lessons Learned 37 2.5.1 Crossover of Pedagogical Approaches 38 2.5.2 Complexity 39 2.5.3 Proximity 39 2.5.4 Stakeholder, Community, and Student Engagement 40 2.5.5 Interdisciplinarity at the Program-Level 41 2.5.6 Assessment and Research Design 41 2.6 Summary 42 References 43 3 Learning to Undermine a Pipeline: A Multi-logue on Encounters with Vermont’s Addison Natural Gas Project 44 3.1 Introduction 45 3.1.1 The ANGP 45 3.1.2 A Multi-logue Writing Approach 45 3.1.3 Auto-Biographical Comments 46 3.2 Multi-logue 49 3.2.1 The Golden-Winged Warbler: Strengthening Place-Based Relationships 49 3.2.2 Practicing Pipeline Pedagogies Amidst Higher Education Institution (HEI) Politics 55 3.3 Re-Connecting with Brian After Our Multi-logue 60 3.3.1 The Nature of Student Projects and Research 60 3.3.2 On the Origins of Rising Tide, and Other Activist Campuses in VT 61 3.4 Concluding Remarks—Moving Forward 63 References 63 4 We Are Teachers and Learners Together: Cross-Disciplinary Lessons from the Pilgrim Pipelines Dispute 65 4.1 Background 66 4.1.1 Connecting Academia and Activism 67 4.2 Pipeline Coursework 70 4.2.1 Service Learning in Medical Geography 70 4.2.2 Health Communications Exercises for Public Health 72 4.2.3 Community Mapping with the Sierra Club 73 4.2.4 Using Story Maps in GIS Coursework 75 4.3 Discussion 76 4.4 Conclusion 77 References 78 Part IITools and Methods for Teaching Pipeline Controversies 82 5 The Stop PennEast Pipeline Fieldwork Project: Teaching Students to Apply Fieldwork Methods to Studying a Natural Gas Pipeline Opposition Movement 83 5.1 Introduction 83 5.2 A Brief Background of the PennEast Pipeline Project 84 5.3 Student Learning Goals 86 5.4 First Assignment: Attending a Public Meeting and Completing a Field Survey 87 5.5 Second Assignment: Limited Participant-Observations of a PennEast FERC SCOPING 87 5.6 Third Assignment: Analyzing Findings 89 5.7 Lessons Learned 90 5.8 Student Reflections and Themes from Completing Coursework and Fieldwork 91 5.8.1 Collective Action and Civic Engagement 91 5.8.2 Student Solidarity 92 5.8.3 Enlightening Student Perspectives on Environmental Issues and Politics 92 5.8.4 A Call to Action 92 Appendix 93 PennEast Pipeline Survey 93 Background Reading Questions to Prep for Conducting Field Survey 94 References 96 6 Extractive Messaging: A Critical Communicative Approach to Pipeline Pedagogy 98 6.1 Introduction 99 6.2 Developing Critical Communication Pipeline Pedagogy 100 6.3 Analyzing Extractive Messages 102 6.3.1 Case Study Background 103 6.3.2 Examining Power in Energy Discourses 104 6.3.3 Exploring the Production of Expertise 105 6.4 Conclusion 108 References 109 Part IIIMobilizing Pipeline Politics 111 7 Mountain Valley Pipeline: A Case Study in Local Resistance and Mobilization 112 7.1 Introduction and Principles of Protest 112 7.2 Basic MVP Facts: “Gas Molecules Flow All Over the Place” 115 7.2.1 Economics and Public Need 116 7.2.2 Permitting Process 117 7.2.3 Supporters and Opponents 118 7.3 Pipeline Chronology 119 7.3.1 2014–2015 120 7.3.2 2016–2017 120 7.3.3 2018–2019 122 7.3.4 2020 122 7.4 Opposition Principles in Action: 2014–2020 123 7.4.1 Show Up (to Public Meetings and Comment Periods) 123 7.4.2 Create a Strong Core and Continually Find New Allies 124 7.4.3 Learn the Facts and Tell the Truth 125 7.4.4 Talk to Elected Officials and Agency Staff 127 7.4.5 Find Creative Ways to Protest 129 7.4.6 Inform, Involve, and Become the Media 130 7.4.7 Use the Legal System 132 7.4.8 Be Watchdogs on the Pipeline Route 135 7.4.9 Stay the Course 135 7.5 Conclusions 136 References 137 8 Linking Sovereignty, Local Environments, and Climate Justice Through Pipeline Pedagogy 145 8.1 Native Leaders and Direct Partnership (Theodor Gordon) 147 8.2 Classroom Strategies (Corrie Grosse) 151 8.2.1 Understanding Connections 151 8.2.2 Identifying Positionality 152 8.2.3 Cultivating Skills for Action 153 8.3 Activism (Brigid Mark) 154 8.4 Conclusion (All) 156 References 157 Index 160