2018 Conference

Full Presentation Panel

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.  Stakeholders are forced to navigate complex government regulatory processes.  These fights often involve matters of environmental justice, with pipeline routes heavily impacting communities of lower economic development or indigenous peoples; the pipelines may pose potential health and safety threats.  We present pedagogy engaging students in analysis of these pipeline battles and energy issues from multiple perspectives, disciplinary and interdisciplinary.  Rich presents pedagogy on communication and discourse about pipelines from multiple examples that prompt students to consider how “extractive messaging” is embedded in systems of power.  Jordan focuses on a local case for Drew University, the Pilgrim Pipeline, engaging students in GIS and Medical Geography courses in creating inventories of cultural and natural resources to be impacted by the pipeline route.  Campbell focuses on the Dakota Access Pipeline, a local case for the Central College campus, and discusses a catalyzing event that led to multidisciplinary engagement in teaching about DAP, resulting in a new model of sustainability education with political engagement at its core.  Banschbach et al. discuss an Environmental Studies Program-wide focus on the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a local case, for community-engaged learning about environmental justice, environmental science and environmental policy.  As a whole, this session highlights the usefulness of pipeline controversies for teaching in ESS. We consider issues such as types of knowledge which count as evidence and power relations in the struggle over these pipelines, therefore the panel addresses the Conference theme of “Inclusion and Legitimacy”.