Between the lab and disaster: the environmental history of experimental oil spills in Canada, 1970–2000
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Marine and aquatic oil spills are one of the most visible and controversial socioecological issues of our time. Extensive scientific research has been conducted into the behaviour, fate, and effects of spilled oil in water and shorelines, directly informing response efforts during catastrophes like the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster of 1989 and the Deepwater Horizon blowout of 2010. However, there has been little study from a social sciences perspective of one of the most important scientific tools used to produce information about spills in Canada, especially in cold-water and Arctic environments: the experimental oil spill, or the controlled discharging of various volumes and types of oil into real-world conditions for the purposes of observing and testing response methods. This dissertation provides a detailed assessment of original scientific reporting about experimental spills conducted between 1970 and 2000—after which they were largely phased out in the Canadian context—and argues that the findings from this experimental work continue to have important resonances today concerning the perceived ability to effectively respond to spills if and when they happen. Specifically, it demonstrates that this experimental work constituted the active materialization of what Rosemary-Claire Collard and Jessica Dempsey’s (2022) have described as the “future eco-perfect,” which appeals to an imagined future of science and technology overcoming conflicts between resource extraction and socioecological impacts. It examines five interlinked case studies about the siting, timing, oiling, production of “new natures,” and scientific uncertainty in experimental spills. While acknowledging the tremendous capacities of scientific knowledge production in understanding socioecological issues, it suggests that this experimental work significantly overstated the degree of control and response potential in many real-world spills, and downplayed or even ignored an array of unknowns and complexities. It concludes by recommending increased caution to be exercised on the issue, and a re-politicization of oil spill risk in the context of oil industry expansion.
Source: Mspace (University of Manitoba)
Author: Wilt, James
Institution: University of Manitoba
Language: English
Subfield: Pollution
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7137708016