Banning protests at oil and gas sites: The influence of policy entrepreneurs and political pressure

Abstract

Direct action by citizens has played a pivotal role in shaping environmental policies in the United States. However, several states have recently enacted legislation prohibiting protests at oil and gas project sites, thus undermining the historical legacy of free speech, the American environmental movement, and environmental justice. This study aims to elucidate the determinants influencing the adoption of bills that prohibit civic protests at oil and gas project sites. Existing policy adoption studies have paid limited attention to the impact of policy entrepreneurs and corporate lobbying on policy adoption. This study contributes to the public policy literature by examining the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and corporate political activities, and how their influence combines with other types of political pressure to influence the adoption of bills that outlaw protests at oil and gas sites (anti-protest bills) at the state level. Using event history analysis with Cox regression, we modeled the likelihood of adoption of anti-protest bills across 50 states from 2017 to 2021. Furthermore, to zoom in on a strategy employed by ALEC, we compared the similarity scores between the texts of ALEC model legislation and proposed anti-protest bills. This study found that the adoption of anti-protest bills is explained by the presence of ALEC-tied legislators, the composition of legislatures, gas production, and the oil and gas industry's contribution to the state economy. The influence of ALEC's model legislation in policy adoption, however, is not significant.