Prairie Wind: A Comparison of News Media Coverage in Saskatchewan and North Dakota

ABSTRACT

North Dakota is a significant producer of wind energy in the United States. In the first decades of this century, the state went from almost zero production to over 25% of its electricity sourced from wind energy. Across the border in Canada, the province of Saskatchewan—which has the same wind capacity as North Dakota—did not develop wind energy during this same time period. This paper looks at print news media coverage of renewable energy, especially wind energy, in the two jurisdictions between 2009–2018. The main finding is that news media coverage of renewable energy is similar despite the very different wind energy portfolios. This suggests a possible disjoint between the media and public discourse on renewable energy politics. Regardless of the size of the renewable energy sector, the media reports very little on it. Overall, the study concludes that more robust discussions around the environment-energy nexus would be beneficial as the jurisdictions continue to grow their energy portfolios and potentially transition toward more renewable energies.

KEYWORDS:

• Wind energy
• media
• North Dakota
• Saskatchewan
• energy politics

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Patrick Braszak for his assistance with the coding of articles and Ashlie Delshad for her feedback on an early version of the manuscript. The author would also like to thank the editors and the two anonymous reviewers for the comments (and patience).

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. According to The Power Corporation Act, SaskPower was an exclusive monopoly over the supply, transmission, distribution, and sale of energy.

2. As of 2016, about 25% of the province’s electricity generation capacity is supplied by independent producers under a “power purchase agreement or a form of public-private partnership” (McKercher LLP Barristers & Solicitors 2016, 3).

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Notes on contributors

Andrea Olive

Andrea Olive is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and the Department of Geography, Geomatics, and Environment at the University of Toronto Mississauga. She has a PhD from Purdue University (2009). Her area of expertise is comparative Canada-US environmental policy, especially conservation policy. She is the author of two books and two edited collections on environmental issues.