Publications

@phdthesis{HerreroCabrejas2013,

title = {Anatom\'{i}a de un conflicto socioecol\'{o}gico El caso de la miner\'{i}a de carb\'{o}n a cielo abierto en el Valle de Laciana},

author = {Amaranta Herrero Cabrejas},

url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10803/116202},

isbn = {9788449037283},

year  = {2013},

date = {2013-03-01},

pages = {370},

school = {Universitat Aut\`{o}noma de Barcelona},

abstract = {This thesis deals with research in the field of environmental sociology conducted between 2008 and 2013 on the socioenvironmental conflict of Mountaintop Removal coal mining (MTR) in Laciana Valley (Leon). Despite being protected by European environmental legislation for its high ecological value, this valley (located in the Southwest of the Cantabrian Mountains) has been suffering from the serious social and environmental impacts of MTR for decades. Some of Laciana's inhabitants, together with regional environmental groups, autonomous activists and MEPs, have spent years opposing and struggling against this industrial activity. MTR is subsidised by the Spanish government and, paradoxically, in Laciana it has been carried out illegally, without the necessary environmental and planning permits. These illegalities have led to multiple sanctions from Spanish and European Courts of Justice. These sanctions still remain unpaid. The objective of this thesis is to develop a better understanding of the configuration and coordination of the many aspects involved in socioenvironmental conflicts using the conflict over MTR in Laciana Valley as a case study. This is a rural area suffering from progressive industrial decline, where conflict is strongly expressed through the discursive and practical opposition or complicity of the different social agents involved. Using qualitative research methods such as interviews, participant observation and the analysis of documents, the thesis describes the socio-environmental consequences of MTR; it also tries to understand the historical and institutional constraints that have conditioned and shaped the conflict; and examines the discourses and practices of the contesting social agents. The most important contribution of this thesis is the identification and explanation of some of the key legitimation mechanisms used by the stakeholders who directly or indirectly encourage the destruction of the mountains and their biodiversity, forming a pro-MTR block. By doing this, they are hindering an economic and social transition to an alternative future scenario, which could be more compatible with the preservation of the ecological assets of the valley. In fact, the articles or article-proposals presented as chapters of this thesis discuss several of these mechanisms of domination by the MTR block. The first article describes and explains how violence and ideology are interwoven through the scapegoat mechanism against environmental groups. The second article focuses on the broad mobilisation of support that coal mining received during the summer of 2012. It highlights some of the clues to understand why the coal industry in the Spanish State receives sympathy and widespread popular support. This support has continued despite the serious social and environmental damages that coal mining and burning entail both locally and globally and despite the massive drop in jobs that the sector has experienced. Finally, the third article examines the technoscientific rationalities present in two Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and how the different antagonistic blocks in Laciana's conflict use these, to support or oppose the continuation of MTR in the area.},

keywords = {Conflicto socioambiental, Ecologismo, Sociolog{\'{i}}a ambiental},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {phdthesis}

}