Pipeline politics: A comparative analysis of environmental justice movements in the United States and Canada

Authors

• Grace Treml, James Madison UniversityFollow

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5118-6500

Date of Graduation

5-14-2026

Semester of Graduation

Spring

Publish

yes

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Department of Political Science

First Advisor

Kristin Wylie

Second Advisor

Kerry Crawford

Third Advisor

Case Watkins

Abstract

Using theoretical frameworks from social movement theory, this study describes and comparatively analyzes the emergence and outcomes of the environmental justice movements against the development of the Coastal GasLink pipeline by people of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in Canada and the Keystone XL pipeline by environmental activists in the United States over the past two decades. By using social movement theory to evaluate movement emergence in terms of mobilizing structures, framing, and political opportunity structure, and movement outcomes in terms of representation, policy outcomes, and cultural discourse, a more inclusive argument for future environmental justice movements emerges. Findings synthesized from comparing the two cases maintains that this hybrid approach to understanding actors and organizations within social movements clarifies how local activists interact with and benefit from transnational advocacy networks, how short-term or issue-based coalitions are a significant contributing factor to successful movement emergence, and how environmental justice movements must effectively leverage their political environment.