Contested extractivism: impact assessment, public engagement, and environmental knowledge production in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta
For large extractive mineral projects, Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) processes function in part as a procedural tool to adjudicate the legitimacy of divergent environmental truth claims. Successful anti-extraction movements work to litigate divergent knowledge claims in the public arena, but...
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University of Arizona Libraries
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2458/v27i1.23828 https://doaj.org/article/64944c6334084163b9b0b7da2050488c |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:64944c6334084163b9b0b7da2050488c 2023-05-15T17:05:39+02:00 Contested extractivism: impact assessment, public engagement, and environmental knowledge production in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Jonathan Tollefson Bindu Panikkar 2020-12-01 https://doi.org/10.2458/v27i1.23828 https://doaj.org/article/64944c6334084163b9b0b7da2050488c en es fr eng spa fre University of Arizona Libraries 1073-0451 doi:10.2458/v27i1.23828 https://doaj.org/article/64944c6334084163b9b0b7da2050488c undefined Journal of Political Ecology, Vol 27, Iss 1, Pp 1166-1188 (2020) scipo phil Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2020 fttriple https://doi.org/10.2458/v27i1.23828 2023-01-22T18:58:20Z For large extractive mineral projects, Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) processes function in part as a procedural tool to adjudicate the legitimacy of divergent environmental truth claims. Successful anti-extraction movements work to litigate divergent knowledge claims in the public arena, but few anti-extraction communities have access to a broad public audience. This article examines the proposed Donlin Gold mine in southwestern Alaska, a locally divisive yet publicly invisible extraction controversy, to understand how communities contest the boundaries of knowledge production and legitimacy set out by EIS procedures without the benefit of broad public awareness. Through a multi-method analysis of the public engagement segment of Donlin's Draft EIS, we find that anti-Donlin activists worked to construct environmental knowledge that drew jointly on claims to local knowledge and scientific expertise through a temporary assemblage of local activists and external consultants. The contested epistemic understandings of residents, expert consultants, and state and federal regulators further reveal the role of regulatory processes in constructing and maintaining boundaries of epistemic legitimacy, while also pointing to emergent possibilities for social action based in locally-situated environmental truth claims. Key Words: Environmental Impact Statement, mining, truth claims, Donlin Gold mine, Alaska Article in Journal/Newspaper Kuskokwim Alaska Yukon Unknown Yukon Journal of Political Ecology 27 1 |
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scipo phil Jonathan Tollefson Bindu Panikkar Contested extractivism: impact assessment, public engagement, and environmental knowledge production in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta |
topic_facet |
scipo phil |
description |
For large extractive mineral projects, Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) processes function in part as a procedural tool to adjudicate the legitimacy of divergent environmental truth claims. Successful anti-extraction movements work to litigate divergent knowledge claims in the public arena, but few anti-extraction communities have access to a broad public audience. This article examines the proposed Donlin Gold mine in southwestern Alaska, a locally divisive yet publicly invisible extraction controversy, to understand how communities contest the boundaries of knowledge production and legitimacy set out by EIS procedures without the benefit of broad public awareness. Through a multi-method analysis of the public engagement segment of Donlin's Draft EIS, we find that anti-Donlin activists worked to construct environmental knowledge that drew jointly on claims to local knowledge and scientific expertise through a temporary assemblage of local activists and external consultants. The contested epistemic understandings of residents, expert consultants, and state and federal regulators further reveal the role of regulatory processes in constructing and maintaining boundaries of epistemic legitimacy, while also pointing to emergent possibilities for social action based in locally-situated environmental truth claims. Key Words: Environmental Impact Statement, mining, truth claims, Donlin Gold mine, Alaska |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jonathan Tollefson Bindu Panikkar |
author_facet |
Jonathan Tollefson Bindu Panikkar |
author_sort |
Jonathan Tollefson |
title |
Contested extractivism: impact assessment, public engagement, and environmental knowledge production in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta |
title_short |
Contested extractivism: impact assessment, public engagement, and environmental knowledge production in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta |
title_full |
Contested extractivism: impact assessment, public engagement, and environmental knowledge production in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta |
title_fullStr |
Contested extractivism: impact assessment, public engagement, and environmental knowledge production in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta |
title_full_unstemmed |
Contested extractivism: impact assessment, public engagement, and environmental knowledge production in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta |
title_sort |
contested extractivism: impact assessment, public engagement, and environmental knowledge production in alaska's yukon-kuskokwim delta |
publisher |
University of Arizona Libraries |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.2458/v27i1.23828 https://doaj.org/article/64944c6334084163b9b0b7da2050488c |
geographic |
Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Yukon |
genre |
Kuskokwim Alaska Yukon |
genre_facet |
Kuskokwim Alaska Yukon |
op_source |
Journal of Political Ecology, Vol 27, Iss 1, Pp 1166-1188 (2020) |
op_relation |
1073-0451 doi:10.2458/v27i1.23828 https://doaj.org/article/64944c6334084163b9b0b7da2050488c |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2458/v27i1.23828 |
container_title |
Journal of Political Ecology |
container_volume |
27 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766060352027492352 |