Fossilized: Environmental Policy in Canada's Petro-Provinces

by Angela V. Carter

Thanks to increasingly extreme forms of oil extraction, Canada’s largest oil-producing provinces underwent exceptional economic growth from 2005 to 2015. Yet oil’s economic miracle obscured its ecological costs.  Fossilized  traces this development trajectory, assessing how the governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, and Labrador offered extensive support for oil development and downplayed its environmental effects. At the height of the boom, these oil-dependent provinces undermined their own environmental policies in order to boost production. Angela Carter investigates overarching institutional trends that prioritized resource extraction over environmental protection and identifies regulatory inadequacies related to environmental assessment, land-use planning, and emissions controls. Her detailed analysis situates these policy dynamics squarely within the historical and global context of late-stage petro-capitalism and the growing neo-liberalization of environmental policy. Fossilized  reveals a country out of step with the transition unfolding in response to the climate crisis. As the global community moves toward deep decarbonization, Canada’s petro-provinces have intensified oil production, intertwining their fate ever more closely with fossil fuel extraction—at great ecological and economic risk.

Genres: Nonfiction

186 pages, Hardcover

Published November 7, 2020

Reviews

[Rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm no expert critic but there are no other reviews here on Goodreads, so I thought I'd add my two cents:

It is at times a bit of a tautology, but the work seems very well researched and ideas are clearly communicated. I have worked parallel to the oil and gas industry in Newfoundland and it was reassuring to see my own thoughts put into words in such a clear and well-informed way. Namely, oil and gas will end up a stranded asset and the current approach to doubling down on increased production is going to lead to some harsh economic times for Newfoundland as well as Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The book also contains many interesting passages about how we got "here" (i.e. so dependant on oil and gas), including discussions on neo-liberal economics and environmental policy. I was particularily disturbed reading about governmental backhandedness, corporate greed, and overall scumminess (bordering on corruption), especially as it pertained to Memorial University and C-NLOPB.

I highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in environmental policy or science in Canada as well as anyone working in any field related to oil and gas.

[Jakub Mrozinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE book about the Canadian Petro Lobby. Must read.