Date of Award
2020
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental and Energy Policy (PhD)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Social Sciences
Advisor 1
Adam Wellstead
Committee Member 1
Chelsea Schelly
Committee Member 2
Mark Rouleau
Committee Member 3
Kalim Shah
Abstract
Over two and a half million miles of pipeline cross the United States today, half of which is over fifty years old and thus was designed, located, and debated without today’s modern environmental policies in place. Aging pipeline infrastructure, such as the (infamous in Michigan) Enbridge Line 5 pipeline underwater crossing at Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac, has undergone increased public scrutiny and risk analysis this past decade. This has led to the potential for policy changes in the historically stable energy services institution associated with pipeline infrastructure regulation. While policy process literature generally describes how policy changes over time, it is missing research on how new goals and new technology, such as energy justice and social media, impact agenda setting and decisions when added to the policy mix. This dissertation first investigates the evolving federal pipeline regime policy goals through an advanced policy mix analysis. Next, it argues that energy justice research can be advanced through deterministic approaches and analyses. Last, this dissertation uses a social network analysis to explain why aging pipelines are on today’s policy agenda through social network analysis. By understanding how the pipeline policy mix has changed over time, including through the addition of modern topics such as energy justice and modern technologies such as social media, policy and decision makers can improve prioritization of risk analysis for aging pipeline infrastructure.
Recommended Citation
Burns, Brent, "Aging Pipeline Infrastructure in the United States: How do a changing policy mix, issues of energy justice, and social media communication impact future risk analysis?", Open Access Dissertation, Michigan Technological University, 2020.