'You're In Oil Country': Moral Tales of Citizen Action against Petroleum Development in Alberta, Canada

The Canadian province of Alberta has experienced phenomenal growth in its oil and gas industry. As the petroleum-industrial complex expands it has sparked a number of community-based conflicts over noxious facilities that are seen by some to be the cause of a number of health problems. The research...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ethics, place and environment place and environment, 2009-03, Vol.12 (1), p.49-68
Main Authors: Evans, Joshua, Garvin, Theresa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alberta
Canada
Case studies
Citizen participation
Morality
Natural gas
Oil industry
Petroleum
Rural areas
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Summary:The Canadian province of Alberta has experienced phenomenal growth in its oil and gas industry. As the petroleum-industrial complex expands it has sparked a number of community-based conflicts over noxious facilities that are seen by some to be the cause of a number of health problems. The research reported here used two case studies to examine siting conflicts involving natural gas extraction facilities in rural Alberta. We found that the stories shared by citizens involved in these conflicts functioned as 'moral tales'. These moral tales were political in the way they challenged implicit and institutionalized rationales for redistributing benefits and burdens of oil and gas development. They also created a space for collective action by articulating spatial transgressions and by constructing a type of moral citizenship.
ISSN:1366-879X
1469-6703
DOI:10.1080/13668790902753070