Browsing by Author "Millar, Heather"

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    Hydrogen and the carbon trap: Hydrogen coalitions and the feedback effects of the BC Hydrogen Strategy
    (University of New Brunswick, 2024-08) Clark, Orland; Millar, Heather
    Hydrogen has become increasingly regarded as a clean alternative for harder-to-abate sectors in Canada. British Columbia was the first province in Canada to release a hydrogen strategy, which discusses ambitions to support low-carbon hydrogen development derived from renewables and fossil fuels. Political science literature has examined the relationship between renewable and fossil dependent interest groups, often stating that there is increasing amounts of resistance against renewable technologies as they develop. Hydrogen presents an opportunity to expand upon this literature, as it can favour the political interest of either renewable or fossil fuel coalitions. Examining the feedback effects of the BC Hydrogen Strategy, this thesis examines policy developments in three cases: hydrogen production, hydrogen in long-haul road transportation, and hydrogen in heavy-industrial applications. Results find that the presence of incumbent interests is not hindering renewable hydrogen developments in BC. Rather, renewable hydrogen may be supporting the political position of incumbents.
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    Problem Uncertainty, Institutional Insularity, and Modes of Learning in Canadian Provincial Hydraulic Fracturing Regulation
    (Wiley, 2020-09-28) Millar, Heather
    This study uses policy learning frameworks to explain variation in processes of hydraulic fracturing regulatory development in Canadian provinces. Using a cross-case comparison of British Columbia and Nova Scotia, the article demonstrates that differences in problem uncertainty and institutional insularity in each province determined modes of technical, social, and political learning in each province. In British Columbia elected officials framed LNG as a safe, clean energy source generating economic benefits. These frames made it difficult for anti-fracking advocates to increase the salience of environmental risks and scientific uncertainty. Low problem uncertainty and high institutional insularity fostered processes of technical learning within the BC Oil and Gas Commission focused on single-issue regulations. In Nova Scotia, an external review provided an ad hoc institutional venue through which environmental advocates, residents, and experts could increase the salience of scientific uncertainty and dread environmental risks. These conditions fostered collective processes of social learning among anti-fracking advocates and political learning among elected officials, resulting in a ban.