Framing the Keystone XL Pipeline Debate in Nebraska

• In Event: 474 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 02. Collective Action Frames

Abstract

While 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 community level. Using social movement framing analysis and in-depth interviews, this article analyzes the Keystone XL debate in rural Nebraska at the cultural and agency levels, focusing on the narratives and discourses used by the various interests involved in the debate. Through the use of testimonies from four public hearings held in Nebraska (N=528), this article analyzes framing strategies employed by both pipeline supporters and pipeline opponents during the KXL opposition movement in Nebraska (2010-2015). Findings indicate that pipeline supporter frames were employed to maximize benefits of the pipeline and minimize potential risks, while pipeline opponent frames were designed to minimize benefits and maximize risks associated with the project. More specifically, pipeline supporter frames closely mirror the economic benefit and national security frames used by 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. Identifying and describing the main narrative frames involved in the KXL debate in Nebraska contributes to the analysis of an emergent form of community mobilization against energy projects.

Author

• James Patrick Ordner, University of Kansas