Canadian Oil Frontiers
As oil and gas developments rapidly expand across Canada into increasingly remote and harsh locations, and as the environmental impacts of this sector become more obvious across the entire production chain, from early exploration to final consumption, there is an urgent need for an analysis of the environmental policy regimes regulating this industry. Have the national and provincial policy regimes preventing, managing and regulating the environmental impacts of oil development kept pace with these intensive developments in Canada’s new “oil frontiers”? How is the regulatory context in these ‘frontier’ regions shaped by the social relations and political economies of the broader oil and gas industry?
This website represents some research which resulted from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (#865-2008-0062) funding focusing on Canadian oil and gas production in unconventional reserves in four provinces and two territories. For each region we provide material on regulation, historical and development context, research being conducted and some key conflicts. While the information on this website is fixed in time, we hope that you find it useful in understanding the ever increasing complexities of oil and gas extraction in Canada.
This website was inspired by participants at the Oil and Gas Community Workshop (funded by the SSHRC grant). The workshop, held in April 2012 at the Bonne Bay Marine Station in western Newfoundland, primarily involved community organizers and researchers from across Canada who came to identify shared issues in confronting oil and gas development at the community level and to begin building a network spanning the country. While the responsibility for the content on this website rests with the authors alone, we would like to thank the workshop participants again for sharing their insights with the group -- and for their continued commitment to the environment and community as oil and gas development intensifies.
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The content on this website is fixed in time (the peer reviewed date noted for each section is when the page was last updated); however, we hope it will provide a useful basis for understanding the ever increasing complexities of oil and gas extraction in Canada.
