Costly fix : power, politics, and nature in the tar sands / Ian Urquhart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Urquhart, Ian T. (Ian Thomas), 1955- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Oil sands industry--Government policy--Alberta.

Oil sands industry.

Oil sands industry--Economic aspects--Alberta.

Oil sands industry--Environmental aspects--Alberta.

Oil sands industry--Social aspects--Alberta.

Oil sands industry--Economic aspects.

Oil sands industry--Environmental aspects.

Oil sands industry--Government policy.

Oil sands industry--Social aspects.

Alberta.

Physical Description:

xiii, 364 pages : map ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

North York, Ontario, Canada : University of Toronto Press, [2018]

Summary:

"Costly Fix addresses core questions about the Alberta oil sands boom that started in the 1990s: Why did this flood of investment pour into the oil sands of northern Alberta? What role has government played with respect to the oil sands rush, and why? Who benefited and who or what has paid the costs of exploiting the oil sands? By analyzing the interest, ideas, and institutions involved in the oil sands boom, Ian Urquart charts its development from the beginning to the present. In this process, we learn about the state's role in making the oil sands profitable, the environmental dimensions of oil sands development, and First Nations' roles in both opposing and supporting the industry. The final chapter examines the extent to which Alberta's new NDP government, in its first eighteen months, altered the legacies they inherited from the Progressive Conservatives on royalties, tailings reservoirs, and climate change."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Market Fundamentalism and the State 14

Introduction 14

Capital's Privilege in Market Societies 14

Economic Liberalism's Resurrection: Market Fundamentalism 17

Conclusion 26

2 State, Capital, and the Foundations of Exploiting the Tar Sands 30

Introduction 30

Alberta's Bitumen 32

Early History 34

The Social Credit Years: The Birth of Great Canadian Oil Sands (Suncor) 37

Syncrude 43

Confused Seas on the Voyage to Free Trade 47

Conclusion 56

3 Building Canada's Oil Factory: Reregulating the Tar Sands 64

Introduction 64

Struggling to Survive? 65

The Liberal Renaissance 70

The Missionary 74

The State Embraces the Sermon: Alberta 82

The State Embraces the Sermon: Canada 87

"An Era of Unprecedented Growth" 90

Conclusion 93

4 Landscape of Sacrifice: The Environmental Consequences of Reregulating the Tar Sands 103

Introduction 103

State Institutions: No Friends to Environmental Concerns 104

Integrated Resource Planning in Name Only: Sacrificing a Potential World Heritage Site 109

The Cumulative Environmental Management Association: Too Little, Too Late 114

The Pembina Institute and the Limits of the Reformist Critique 118

Conclusion 127

5 First Nations: Resistance and Compromise 138

Introduction 138

First Nations' Concerns and Objections: Developing a Scientific Critique 140

First Nations' Concerns and Objections: The Constitutional Critique 145

Compromise: The Other Face of the First Nations' Relationship to the Tar Sands 148

First Nations: Partners in Exploiting the Tar Sands 151

Building First Nations' Organizational Capacity...with Strings Attached 159

Conclusion 163

6 Prison Break? The Political Economy of Royalty Reform 175

Introduction 175

The Politics of Leadership Succession and Petroleum Royalties 177

Establishing the Public's "Fair Share": The Alberta Royalty Review Panel 180

Industry Strikes Back 186

Alberta's 2007 Oil Sands Royalty Changes: Draconian or Reaffirming? 189

Conclusion 193

7 Taking Environmental Issues Abroad: Toxic Tailings, Dead Ducks 199

Introduction 199

Mr. Smith does to Washington 200

"The Press Is the Enemy" 202

Dead Ducks, Tarred Images 205

The Bitumen Triangle: Industry, Government, and Universities Unite to Tell a Better Story 208

Directive 074 and the Politics of Tailings Ponds Reclamation 213

The Institutional Framework 220

Conclusion 224

8 The Tar Sands and the Politics of Climate Change 235

Introduction 235

Dirty Oil, Climate Change, and the Transnational Environmental Critique 237

Congress, the Bush Administration, and the Security of Tar Sands Access to US Markets 239

What to Reduce in Alberta? Emissions and/or Emissions Intensity? 242

The Specified Gas Emitters Regulation: Alberta's 12 Percent Solution 247

The Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMG) 250

The Keystone XL Pipeline 256

Conclusion 260

9 An Inconvenient Truth: New Government, Same Approach 270

Introduction 270

Let's Talk Royalties (Again) 272

Directive 085: Letting the Fox Guard the Henhouse? 278

Alberta's Climate Leadership Plan 280

Conclusion 287

10 Conclusion: Market Fundamentalism in the Tar Sands 298

Market Fundamentalism and the Character of Exploitation 298

Market Fundamentalism and Nature 303

Market Fundamentalism and Countermovements 308

The Future 313.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 319-351) and index.

Other Format:

Urquhart, Ian T. (Ian Thomas), 1955- Costly fix.

ISBN:

9781487594619

1487594615

9781487594626

1487594623

OCLC:

992558720