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dc.contributor.advisorSmith, David N
dc.contributor.authorOrdner, James Patrick
dc.date.accessioned2017-12-11T22:36:10Z
dc.date.available2017-12-11T22:36:10Z
dc.date.issued2015-12-31
dc.date.submitted2015
dc.identifier.otherhttp://dissertations.umi.com/ku:14433
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1808/25630
dc.description.abstractWhile the Keystone XL Pipeline project became a major cultural and political symbol for the greater environmental movement’s effort to curb carbon dioxide emissions and begin shifting to a renewable energy economy, a vigorous and sustained grassroots movement, led by the social movement organization Bold Nebraska, emerged in rural Nebraska to fight the pipeline at the local level. Using the politics of contention perspective and framing analysis, this dissertation analyzes the Keystone XL debate in rural Nebraska at the structural, cultural and agency levels of analysis. At the structural and cultural levels, I use county demographic data to examine the sociopolitical factors shaping mobilization outcomes in Nebraskan communities. The main body of the analysis focuses on the narratives and discourses used by the various interests involved in the debate in Nebraska. Through the use of in-depth interviews and testimony from four public comment hearings held in Nebraska (N=528), I identify the major framing strategies employed by both pipeline supporters and pipeline opponents. Findings indicate that pipeline supporter frames were employed to maximize benefits of the pipeline and minimize potential risks, while pipeline opponents’ frames were designed to minimize benefits and maximize risks associated with the project. More specifically, pipeline supporter frames closely mirror the economic, national security, and safety frames used by political leaders and oil and gas industry advocates to promote the pipeline, while rural landowners and activists framed the pipeline debate in terms of protecting the Sandhills, the Ogallala Aquifer, and private property rights.
dc.format.extent333 pages
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Kansas
dc.rightsCopyright held by the author.
dc.subjectSociology
dc.subjectEnvironmental studies
dc.subjectClimate change
dc.subjectclimate change
dc.subjectcollective action
dc.subjectenergy projects
dc.subjectKeystone XL Pipeline
dc.subjectrural mobilization
dc.subjectsocial movement framing
dc.titleGrassroots Resistance to the Keystone XL Pipeline in Nebraska
dc.typeDissertation
dc.contributor.cmtememberAntonio, Robert
dc.contributor.cmtememberKindscher, Kelly
dc.contributor.cmtememberHanley, Eric
dc.contributor.cmtememberNagel, Joane
dc.contributor.cmtememberStaples, Bill
dc.thesis.degreeDisciplineSociology
dc.thesis.degreeLevelPh.D.
dc.identifier.orcid
dc.rights.accessrightsopenAccess


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