Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item Coalbed methane reclamation activities in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming: social and policy dimensions of environmental legacy management(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Walsh, Kathryn Bills; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Julia Hobson Haggerty; Julia H. Haggerty was a co-author of the article, 'Governing unconventional legacies: lessons from the coalbed methane boom in Wyoming' in 'Governing Shale Gas: Development, Citizen Participation and Decision Making in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe' which is contained within this dissertation.; Julia H. Haggerty was a co-author of the article, 'Social license to operate during Wyoming's coalbed methane boom: implications of private participation' in the journal 'Energy policy' which is contained within this dissertation.; Julia H. Haggerty was a co-author of the article, 'The 'learn as you go' approach: a cautionary tale of environmental legacy management in Wyoming's coalbed methane fields' which is contained within this dissertation.The United States is producing more oil and natural gas than ever before. Sites of production are contributing to the known land-use phenomenon of energy sprawl, though little is known about how these sites will be reclaimed and how legacy effects will be governed and managed. Reclamation returns degraded energy landscapes to some productive capacity in order to avoid permanent environmental harm. Thus far, the technical aspects of reclamation have been the topic of most research while the human dimensions are under-studied. This research draws attention to the social and political dimensions of environmental legacy management. A period of coalbed methane development in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming (1999-2009) provides an instructive case study to investigate the legacy effects of energy resource development. After a decade of coalbed methane production, about 5,700 orphaned wells remained without viable industry operators to fund and manage well-plugging and reclamation. This dissertation uses a qualitative case study approach including document analysis, policy analysis, and forty semi-structured interviews with local surface owners, attorneys, state and federal regulators, local government officials, and industry personnel. Contextual research revealed that management of post-production oil and gas is a highly complex governance challenge made more complicated by the split estate property regime that characterizes the American West. Empirical research found that environmental legacy issues are exacerbated by 'private participation'. Applying a framework tied to the concept of social license to operate, investigation of surface owner-industry relations revealed that individuals played a critical role in decision-making processes. Surface owner's private participation resulted in decisions to forgo reclamation and integrate CBM-related infrastructure into ranching operations, therefore contributing to the scale and extent of environmental legacies. This dissertation also found that an adaptive, or 'learn as you go', policy approach in Wyoming enabled cost-shifting mechanisms to gain foothold, creating serious long-term environmental costs. Three specific cost-shifting mechanisms for CBM were identified: regulatory misalignment, overadaptation to the oil and gas industry, and industry bankruptcy. Together this dissertation highlights the importance of studying the social and political dimensions of post-production oil and gas activities for more effective environmental legacy management.Item Neither here nor there(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2020) Marian Albin, Cristina Simona; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sara MastTraditional rites of passage are losing value today or are forced to take new forms, sometimes at a rapid pace. Inevitable events instantly and actively change our personal, societal and global life. Neither Here Nor There examines mental and physical liminal spaces. My aim is to define the concept, etymology and history of liminality, while exploring its relevance in our modern world. Included as part of this paper, images from my current body of work chronicle different transitional environments, both aesthetically and emotionally. The original concept of liminality, as described by earlier theorists, no longer holds the same meaning. Transitory experiences become perpetual, some occurring at the same time, some repeating. A liminal space can sometimes metamorphose into a home. In this thesis I am addressing several questions of liminality: What are the attributes of liminality and how does it reshape our identity? How do we navigate unsettling unknowns when the ground under our feet seems to constantly shift? During the writing of this paper, the novel virus COVID-19 hit the world, resulting in fear, stress, anxiety, chaos, and changes. However, the crisis also brought with it flexibility, creativity, collaboration, and resilience. New forms of ritual are being born every second.Item Sheep country in three western American localities: place identity, landscape, community, and family(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Sando, Linnea Christiana; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: William WyckoffSheep ranching in the American West is a vanishing way of life, but one that has for generations shaped many of the region's communities and their cultural landscapes. This research explores how powerful and enduring place identities associated with sheep ranching and the wool industry have transformed communities in Sweet Grass County, Montana, Elko County, Nevada and Umatilla County, Oregon. To assess the evolving roles sheep ranching and the wool industry have played in cultivating place identity, I used interviews and conversations, 'stories,' landscape observation and analysis, an analysis of past and contemporary creative endeavors, and archival works, such as government documents, local histories, newspaper articles, and promotional literature and imagery. I also explored the concept of place identity from varied perspectives, including from a community standpoint and a more in-depth family perspective. The sheep and wool industries did not unfold and impact the places and people in identical ways. Factors including the physical environment, local economies, key players and image makers, cultural backgrounds, and defining institutions of communities all played a role in shaping place identities. This research also shows the myriad ways communities and their residents incorporate the heritage of raising sheep into their daily lives, such as through festivals, community events, the sharing of social memories, and through creative works. The urban and rural landscapes in each case study also reflect the wool and sheep legacies, but this legacy is displayed differently based on distinctive environmental settings and unique settlement histories. By assessing the concept of place identity from varied perspectives and varied sources in three different localities, this dissertation provides a meaningful methodology for examining the ways place identities are created, nurtured, and reflected at multiple scales and in a diversity of communities.Item Asking for survival : the environmental implications of cultural revitalization on the Fort Belknap Reservation(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1992) Strahn, DerekItem The Urban Indian community of Minneapolis, Minnesota : an analysis of educational achievements, housing conditions, and health care from the relocation of 1952 to today(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2004) Zimmerman, Leslie Ann; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Alexandra New HolyThis thesis critically evaluates the improvements in educational achievements, housing conditions, and health care needs for the urban Indian population of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I specifically focus on the Relocation Policy and how that Policy, instead of assimilating American Indians into mainstream society, became a vehicle for elevating the population of American Indians in Minneapolis to a level of “visibility.” As well, I discuss how this once “invisible” urban community formed an urban coalition, the American Indian Movement (AIM), to actively seek social justices in education, housing, and health care for the urban Indian population of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The intent of the research is to determine whether the extensive funding and programs directed toward the urban Indian population of Minneapolis throughout the last four decades have brought about significant improvements; to determine the degree of, and changes in educational achievements, housing conditions, and health needs of the urban Indian population of Minneapolis, Minnesota. This project is the first evaluation of whether conditions within the urban Indian community of Minneapolis have improved since Relocation. I think this project was needed to critically evaluate a metro area like Minneapolis that has such an extensive history of programs and funding for the urban Indian population.Item Tribal education : a case study of Northern Cheyenne elders(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1994) Rowland, Franklin ClayItem Tribal education : a case study of Blackfeet elders(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1997) Still Smoking, Dorothy M.Item An examination of empowerment at a kidney center as experienced by persons who receive hemodialysis treatment for End-Stage Renal Disease(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1997) Bordelon, Thomas DominiqueItem The Montana study : idealistic failure or innovative success(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1991) Counter, Janice ElaineItem Native American family systems : applications of the circumplex model of families(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1998) Griffith, Amy L.