Petroleum Threat Assessment.pdf

The Canadian petroleum industry faces a growing threat from a highly organized and well-financed anti-petroleum movement, consisting of peaceful activists, militants, and violent extremists opposed to fossil fuels. This movement is focused on challenging energy and environmental policies, and violent extremists will continue to engage in criminal activity to promote their ideology, posing a realistic threat to the industry, its workers, and assets. Recent protests in New Brunswick are the most violent to date, and the movement is likely to continue as the development of Canada's petroleum resources expands. Non-governmental environmental groups, such as Greenpeace and Sierra Club Canada, assert that climate change is a direct consequence of elevated greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning, and the Canadian petroleum industry is singled out as a significant contributor to global climate change. The anti-petroleum movement uses social media to publicize concerns, leading to negative media coverage and broadly based opposition. A growing pan-national fringe violent extremist faction is ideologically opposed to the Canadian petroleum industry, and some extremists advocate the use of arson, firearms, and improvised explosive devices.