Repository for Oil and Gas Energy Research (ROGER)

Abstract:
This article explores struggles over shale fuel development in the Vaca Muerta formation in the Province of Neuquen in northern Patagonia, Argentina. In particular, this article provides a socio-geographical analysis to elucidate the legal framework used to control underground deposits and critically explore the socioeconomic implications of fracking activities in the community of Anelo, where the infrastructure to support fracking activities is being developed. By analyzing the relationships between national strategies to recover hydrocarbon sovereignty to achieve energy self-sufficiency, provincial government attempts to develop shale deposits to increase the revenue generated from their rent, and everyday lives of citizens in Anelo, this study aims to illuminate the myriad complexities inherent to issues of access to and control over unconventional deposits, the commodification of shale deposits, and the impacts associated with their extraction in a changing energy landscape. The article argues that the socioeconomic impacts experienced in Anelo are not only the direct consequence of the boomtown scenario resulting from the exploitation of Vaca Muerta, but this process is in part the end-result of a national strategy spearheaded by the government to secure the accumulation of capital through shale fuels rent as part of a broader agenda to achieve energy sovereignty. It further contends that changes in Anelo are the direct result of neo-extractivism, where the primary agents responsible for the boom-town scenario in the community are the state-owned YPF, in joint venture with international oil and gas companies.

Abstract:
This article critically reviews social science research on unconventional hydrocarbon development in the United Kingdom. I analyse fifty research articles published over the last half decade. The articles fit into three primary categories: (1) public perceptions, (2) discourse and rhetoric, and (3) planning and regulation. This review reveals both what social scientific inquiry has taught us and what gaps remain. We have reasonable understanding of: extent of public support for and opposition to development, basic factors related to support and opposition, procedural and distributive justice concerns leading to opposition, repeated academic critiques of UK planning guidance and regulation, and the frequent use of environmental risks and economic benefits as competing discursive frames. We lack understanding of: how discourse and rhetoric about shale gas, or how knowledge about development, influence public perceptions; how perceptions and discourse at local and regional levels in the UK compare with the national level; what information sources the public rely on and trust on this topic; whether estimates of economic benefits are reliable; and importantly, how perceptions, discourse, and policy will evolve in light of imminent changes to the production and policy landscape. I conclude with recommendations for filling the emergent lacunae in our understanding.

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The paper explores the emergence of different publics for shale gas issue along the development of exploration activities in Poland. Through the concept of co-production, it is argued that publics do not pre-exist socio-technical realities but that they are organized by various actors together with these realities. The paper argues that scaling is an important aspect of the co-production of publics as it helps to navigate among them and the issues they represent and govern them according to their scalar relevance: local, regional, national or international. As political realities, publics become important terrains within which relations between state and citizens are negotiated.

Abstract:
Examining the early stages of coalition formation and how they may react to rapid institutional changes provides insight into how like-minded policy actors pursue their goals and coordinate their behavior in relatively unstable institutional systems. This study observes activity in the policy subsystem of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the southern Argentinian province of Neuquén. Using media sources, we identify policy actors, their support or opposition to the expansion of unconventional oil and gas production through fracking and their agreement or disagreement on the topic of fracking, both before and after Chevron and YPF (the large publicly-owned Argentinian energy company) signed a controversial accord to develop parts of the Vaca Muerta formation, one of the largest in the world. Using Social Network Analysis, we show that two coalitions (pro and anti fracking) exist, and that they exhibit a high potential for intra-coalitional coordination and inter-coalitional conflict. Following the signing of the accord, which we see as an example of an “institutional shock”, significant increases in activity and the potential for intra-coordination within the anti-fracking coalition were observed, along with an increase in the potential for conflict between the coalitions. Our results illuminate shed new light on how coalitions may form and evolve in unstable institutional systems where political power is unevenly distributed.

Abstract:
This perspective paper examines the current policy landscape for hydraulic fracturing in China, with a focus on the role of public attitudes toward shale gas in China. We highlight the need for further research on public perceptions and responses in a non-democratic society, both for the potential protection of residents who might be affected by the technology as well the valuable research data that can be contrasted with public perspectives and engagement in other countries. Although the empirical findings presented here are limited due to this being very preliminary research, our goal is to shed light on what existing data shows about current understanding and perceptions. We discuss preliminary data collected during a research trip to Beijing in late December 2017, and contrast it with the few empirical studies on China that exist to date (Sher and Wu, 2018; Yu et al., 2018). Our research demonstrates the need for further investigation of understanding and perceptions of shale gas in China, particularly as other countries (EXAMPLES) are beginning to look at expanding their own shale gas resources. A reflection on this will also lead to a discussion of the extent to which data from China does or does not relate to that from other nations.

Abstract:
New applications of hydraulic fracturing (HF) methods to release natural gas from shale deposits have emerged as a hotly contested political issue. Consequently, researchers commonly seek to identify factors shaping public perceptions of this technology. While research conducted in North America has focused primarily on the United States, this paper contributes to a growing body of work examining Canadian perceptions toward HF. We build on the existing regionally-focused literature on public perceptions of HF in Canada with an analysis of data collected from a nationally-representative (n = 2012) survey of attitudes toward hydraulic fracturing administered to the adult Canadian population in 2016. We find that an individual’s cultural biases are strong predictors of their attitudes toward hydraulic fracturing, and that these effects are moderated by levels of issue familiarity. Analysis of an embedded survey experiment further reveals that attitudes in Canada are somewhat affected by cues regarding the developer’s status (i.e. whether a Canadian, American or government-owned corporation), and that a nationalist bias is especially prominent among people with hierarchical predispositions. We further find that familiarity with hydraulic fracturing is associated with significantly less support, and that this relationship is moderated by a respondent’s region of residence. We discuss these findings in light of the existing literature and outline areas for future research.

Abstract:
Public and stakeholder engagement with shale development is difficult, but essential. We review 26 engagement processes carried out by US and Canadian companies, alliances, government agencies, academics and activists; systematically exploring who participates, the stage at which engagements take place, aims and methods, provision for multiway engagement, and issues of credibility. We find a multitude of actors carrying out engagement using a variety of formats, ranging from barbeque events and town hall meetings to citizen science and in-depth qualitative research. Whilst we find many strengths, we also highlight a number of weaknesses. Much of this engagement does not occur at the earliest stages of development, and rarely asks the most fundamental question -whether shale development should proceed at all- instead commonly focusing on questions of impact minimisation, regulation and gaining support. Furthermore, the majority of activities tend to elicit the responses of interested and affected parties, with much less attention to views of the wider public. We reflect on what may be limiting engagement practice, and discuss how engagement might be improved.

Abstract:
Changes to the material and social systems that underpin energy infrastructures are inextricably linked to energy justice concerns, and the timeframes of those changes significantly affect their outcomes. Temporal aspects of energy initiatives and their impacts are thus an important site for examining emergent public views on new energy proposals, inequality, and energy justice. We propose urgency is a particularly rich concept through which to study (i) the justice and socioenvironmental implications of energy systems and technological change and (ii) how people make sense of contested energy timeframes. Here, we present findings from a series of public deliberation workshops held in the United States and United Kingdom to discuss projected impacts of shale oil and gas extraction by hydraulic fracturing. We encountered critical similarities across sites, as in widespread public resistance to issue framings that foreground urgency-based claims in support of their objectives. Participants assessed energy initiatives with particular reference to temporality and urgency, and we argue these views raise justice concerns regarding distribution, the creation of environmental inequalities, public participation, and recognition. We also suggest a focus on urgency provides fresh perspectives on justice issues surrounding the speed and direction of technological development in general and of energy transitions in particular.

Abstract:
The extraction of oil and gas has increasingly shaped Canada’s economy and culture in recent years. As Canada attempts to move toward a low carbon economy, it is important to know how Canadians perceive the risks and opportunities associated with various energy sources. In particular, fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is one such energy extraction technique that has received much media attention but little systematic research from social scientists in Canada. Drawing on survey data from a representative sample of citizens in a province that has utilized fracking extensively (British Columbia) and one that has placed a moratorium on its use (New Brunswick), this article examines public perceptions of the use of hydraulic fracturing. In particular, this paper explores the risks and opportunities people perceive from this technology in these different provincial energy contexts. The findings suggest that while New Brunswick residents saw more benefits and fewer risks from fracking than British Columbia residents, the variables shaping perceptions within each province were mostly similar. We argue that contemporary risk theorizing should more closely consider how people perceive opportunities associated with the use of this disruptive technology as well as how context shapes people’s perceptions.

Abstract:
This research investigates the relation between water, energy, and transportation systems, using the growing hydraulic fracturing activity in the Eagle Ford shale play region of southwest Texas in which the local water systems and road infrastructure were not designed for the frequent transport of water into the production site and of produced gas and oil from the site as are often required for hydraulic fracturing. The research: 1) quantifies the interconnections between water, energy, and transportation systems specific to the Eagle Ford shale region; 2) identifies and quantifies the economic, social, and environmental indicators to evaluate scenarios of oil and gas production; and 3) develops a framework for analysis of the economic, societal, and long term sustainability of the sectors and 4) an assessment tool (WET Tool) that estimates several economic indicators: oil and natural gas production, direct and indirect tax revenues, and average wages for each scenario facilitates the holistic assessment of oil and gas production scenarios and their associated trade-offs between them. Additionally, the Tool evaluates these social and environmental indices, (water demand, emissions, water tanker traffic, accidents, road deterioration, and expected average employment times). Scale of production is derived from the price of oil and gas; government revenues from production fluctuations in relation to rise and fall of the oil and gas market prices. While the economic benefits are straightforward, the social costs of shale development (water consumption, carbon emissions, and transportation/infrastructure factors), are difficult to quantify. The tool quantifies and assesses potential scenario outcomes, providing an aid to decision makers in the public and private sectors that allows increased understanding of the implications of each scenario for each sector by summarizing projected outcomes to allow evaluation of the scenarios and comparison of choices and facilitate the essential dialogue between these sectors.

Abstract:
For over four years, local residents, the government, industry and scientists have been anticipating the start of shale gas operations at a site at Preston New Road in Lancashire, North West England. This paper examines how these different social actors perceive and think about time, as well as the future of fracking. Many of their disagreements expose the diverging ways in which they make sense of time and point to time and temporality as a useful lens for understanding their respective rationalities. Time also emerges as a principal mode of experiencing inequality, because not all notions of time are equivalent in relation to power. The three dispositions towards time that are played out in the shale gas debate in Lancashire construct time as: owned, as being the same in every moment, and as having real social and environmental effects. This article analyses the politics of time, which is an arena in which these notions are articulated and negotiated, and where they compete for a hegemonic position with varying success. It concludes by arguing that inscribing the future with particular characteristics is a powerful tool that forecloses some arguments and creates power disparities in debates around unconventional resource extraction.

Abstract:
We investigate whether an increase in the potential earnings of men leads to an increase in marriage and a reduction in nonmarital births by exploiting the positive economic shock associated with fracking in the 2000s. A reduced-form analysis reveals that in response to local-area fracking production, which increased wages and jobs for non-college-educated men, both marital and nonmarital birth rates increase, but marriage rates do not. The pattern of results is consistent with positive income effects on births but no associated increase in marriage. We contrast our findings to the Appalachian coal boom experience of the 1970s and 1980s.

Abstract:
Aotearoa New Zealand is a little-known oil and gas producer with a long history of conventional, small-volume extraction in the province of Taranaki. The development of unconventional technologies coupled with political and economic interest in expanding extraction positioned communities and landscapes with no previous history into becoming emergent, extractive frontiers. Data from interviews, observations, and publicly available documents were collected and analyzed to study how fracking vulnerable communities responded to oil and gas proposals for exploration. This study found that residents of the first-fracked communities of Taranaki became national experts, informants, and translators for the fracking vulnerable regions. This study also found that first-fracked communities in English-speaking nations served, whether knowingly or not, as an additional well of publicly accessible insight whether they experienced earthquakes in Oklahoma, mobilized resistance in England, or locked their gates in Australia. This global exchange revealed a globalization of citizen knowledge for vulnerable communities to challenge becoming the next frontier. Finally, this study found that a civic boomerang occurred, in which residents of the frontiers who were opposed to hydraulic fracturing discovered the problems of extraction and turned a more critical lens on the industry’s workaday practices in the province of Taranaki.

Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Hydraulically fractured wells produce 2–14 million liters of wastewater, which may contain toxic and radioactive compounds. The wastewater is predominantly disposed of using Class II injection wells. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to evaluate the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and injection well locations in Ohio. METHODS: Using state and federal data sources, we classified Ohio census block groups by presence of injection wells, number of hydraulically fractured wells, sociodemographic factors (median household income, % white, population density, % ≥high school education, median age, voter turnout), and geographic information (land area, water area, situated over shale). We modeled the odds of having at least one injection well within a block group with respect to all covariates using three multivariable models incorporating different spatial components to account for similarities in neighboring block groups. RESULTS: In bivariate analyses, block groups with injection wells (n=156) compared with those without (n=9,049) had lower population density (71 vs. 2,210 people/mi2 or 27 vs. 854 people/km2), larger median area (43.5 vs. 1.35 km2), higher median age (42.8 vs. 40.2 y), and higher % white (98.1% vs. 92.1%). After adjustment using a spatial logistic regression model, the odds of a block group containing an injection well were 16% lower per $10,000 increase in median income [odds ratio(OR)=0.837; 95% credible interval (CI): 0.719, 0.961] and 97% lower per 1,000 people/mi2 (or per 386 people/km2) increase (OR=0.030; 95% CI=0.008, 0.072). Block groups on shale and those containing fewer hydraulically fractured wells were more likely to include an injection well. Percentage white, median age, % ≥high school education, and % voter turnout were not significant predictors of injection well presence. CONCLUSION: In Ohio, injection wells were inversely associated with block groups’ median incomes after adjusting for other sociodemographic and geographic variables. Research is needed to determine whether residents in census blocks with injection wells face increased risk of chemical exposures or adverse health outcomes.

Abstract:
Hydraulic fracturing has provided a persistent, polarizing, and highly politicized source of controversy internationally, and in numerous national contexts for just under a decade. This research uses fracking operations in New Zealand as a vignette through which to understand the underlying causes of controversy and the appropriateness of attempts to address them. A multi-method approach using interviews (n=25), diagrammatic analysis, and newsprint media was applied to evidence two major findings. Firstly, previous attempts to explain fracking controversy based on social constructivist theory lack a multi-scalar approach to the assessment of factors that influence risk perceptions. It is found that risk perception surrounding fracking in New Zealand reflects intra-scalar interactions between factors originating at the international, national, regional and local scale. Secondly, there is a concerning absence of critique pertaining to the concept of ‘social license to operate’ (SLO), which has been advocated both internationally and nationally as an appropriate form of stakeholder engagement. This paper contributes to the SLO outcomes literature by establishing a need to consider multi-scalar influences on risk perception when explaining diverse SLO outcomes in communities where fracking operations are prospective or already taking place.

Abstract:
France has a long history in mining and, to a lesser extent, in hydrocarbon extraction, but these industries were both in decline by the end of the 20th century. Following the American shale boom in the 2000′s, there was a sudden renewal of hydrocarbon exploration in 2010 with new exploration licenses being delivered for unconventional oil and gas projects. These projects first remained confined to specialists of such industries until the end of 2010, when a massive social movement opposed shale gas exploration. This paper aims at drawing a picture of this social movement and its narrative work to obtain the ban on hydraulic fracturing by the French government in 2011. Showing the oil and gas supporters’ failed attempts to reopen the debate in the following years, we outline how the ban contributed to negatively shape the representation of extractive industries outside unconventional hydrocarbons. We demonstrate that i) public and political perceptions of unconventional gas in general were built mostly during the sudden burst of mobilization in late 2010, with the opponent’s narratives encountering almost no resistance, ii) previous knowledge and experience with extractive industries in some areas of France facilitates social license for unconventional gas without the use of hydraulic fracturing there, but it does not guarantee the development of the industry, iii) the controversy about hydraulic fracturing participated to shape negative perception about extractive industries in France in general, including ore mining.

Abstract:
Multi-stakeholder governance arrangements involving co-operation between public and non-state actors are a vital part of the governance landscape for addressing social impacts resulting from resources development. Yet, the current mantra for ‘collaboration’ has gained relative credibility and legitimacy without scrutiny of the democratic characteristics and quality of these institutional arrangements. This article responds to this normative concern by examining the implications for the democratic legitimacy of multi-stakeholder governance arrangements in cases where private resource extraction companies, who do not necessarily act in the public interest, exercise a ‘metagovernance’ role. We explore this topic through a qualitative case-study comparison of affordable housing governance in regions impacted by unconventional gas development in Australia and the United States. We argue that while multi-stakeholder governance arrangements convened by resource extraction companies can support situations of democracy under certain conditions, resource extraction companies structure the processes within these collaborative arrangements to the benefits of specific actors, notably the extractive companies themselves and other profit-orientated actors. In particular, we illustrate the depoliticizing effects of these institutions, whereby in some cases, they are used to constrain debates about the social impacts of extractives development, and circumscribe certain types of actors from participation in deliberative debate and decision-making. We underscore the importance of state intervention in ensuring communicative processes induced by corporate actors proceed according to the principles of deliberative democracy.

Abstract:
‘Fracking’, or unconventional gas development via hydraulic fracturing (hereafter ‘UGD’), has been closely tied to global climate change in academic discourse. Researchers have debated the life cycle emissions of shale gas versus coal, rates of methane leakage from wellhead production and transmission infrastructure, the extent to which coal would be displaced by gas as a source of energy, the appropriate time-scale for accounting for the global warming potentials of methane and carbon dioxide, surface versus airborne methane measurements, and the effect of lowered energy prices on gas consumption. Little research, however, has examined the degree to which these potential connections between UGD and climate change are relevant to the general public. This article presents two surveys, one of a representative national (US) sample and one of a representative sample of residents in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania and New York. It examines whether respondents associated UGD with climate change, and the relationship between this association and their support for, or opposition to, UGD. The results reveal that beliefs about many other potential impacts of UGD explain more variation in support and opposition than do beliefs about UGD’s association with climate change. Furthermore, most other impacts of UGD are viewed as having more effect on quality of life if they were to occur, at least amongst the Marcellus Shale survey sample. The article concludes with implications of the findings for policy and communication on UGD.Key policy insights Public opinion about unconventional gas development (UGD or ‘fracking’) is affected less by beliefs about its impact on global climate change, than about several other more local factors.Communication tailored to increase awareness of UGD’s impacts would likely be most effective when focusing on the local level, as opposed to national or global impacts.Messaging about UGD’s relationship with carbon emissions would have more effect in national-level discourse, as opposed to messaging targeted at communities experiencing or potentially experiencing development.To maintain credibility and societal trust, communication on the global climate impacts of UGD needs to be informative but non-persuasive.

Abstract:
Social equity is an important normative construct in public administration. However, its operationalization is vague and it is empirically underutilized. This article combines political economy, social equity, and environmental justice literatures to explore the contentious issue of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas (commonly called “fracking”). Through interviews with local officials, we show that local officials are aware of equity issues, many take action to reduce inequities related to gas drilling, and equity is often at odds with private property rights. Finally, equity issues are more likely to be associated with inequitable distribution of costs and benefits than traditional distributional social equity.

Abstract:
The expansion of unconventional sources of natural gas across the world has generated public controversy surrounding fracking drilling methods. Public debates continue to reverberate through policy domains despite very inconclusive biophysical evidence of net harm. As a consequence, there is a need to test the hypothesis that resistance to fracking is due to the way it redistributes economic and environmental risks. As in many other communities, opposition to fracking is common in central Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, (USA) but the rationale underpinning opposition is poorly understood. We test the prevailing assumption in the environmental management literature that fracking opposition is motivated by knowledge deficits and/or not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) politics. This study uses Q methodology to examine emergent perspectives and sub-discourses within the fracking opposition debate in central Westmoreland County, PA. Q methodology offers a systematic and iterative use of both quantitative and qualitative research techniques to explore frequently overlooked marginal viewpoints that are critical to understanding the fracking problem. The analysis reveals four different narratives of factors amongst people actively involved in locally opposing fracking, labeled (1) Future Fears; (2) NIMBY (3) Community Concerns; and (4) Distrust Stakeholders. The conflicts that emerge across these four factors are indicative of deeper discourse within the fracking debate that signifies diversity in motivations, values, and convictions, and suggests the inadequacy of relying on knowledge deficit and/or NIMBY explanations to fracking politics.

Abstract:
No Canadian province has fewer regulations surrounding the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) than Saskatchewan. Other provinces – and some US jurisdictions and foreign countries – have banned fracking or chosen to heavily regulate it because of its environmental and public health risks. Saskatchewan has lax regulations and a political regime that favors the oil and gas industry. This paper asks where environmental non-government organizations (ENGOs) are in the landscape of public opposition to fracking. Previous research has shown the rural communities can be dependent on natural resource extraction for revenue and jobs thereby leaving citizens unwilling to speak out against the industry or the government policy that surrounds it. Through surveys and interviews with ENGOs in Saskatchewan we find these organizations are not engaged in fracking debates or policy at all. No ENGO in the province is lobbying for regulatory changes and no ENGO is presently working to disseminate information on fracking to the public or government. This suggests, in line with earlier work, that Saskatchewan will remain the wild west of Canadian fracking, while the public and the environment may pay a significant cost.

Abstract:
Many governments and corporations have embraced information disclosure as an alternative to conventional environmental and public health regulation. Public policy research on transparency has examined the effects of particular disclosure policies, but there is limited research on how the construction of disclosure policies relates to social movements, or how transparency and ignorance are related. As a first step toward filling this theoretical gap, this study seeks to conceptualize disclosure conflicts, the social processes through which secrecy is challenged, defended, and mobilized in public technoscientific controversies. In the case of shale oil and gas development (“fracking”) in the United States, activists and policy makers have demanded information about the contents of fluids used in the extraction process and the routes of oil shipments by rail. Drilling and railroad companies have resisted both demands. Studies of such disputes reveal the dynamic and conflictual nature of information disclosure. In both cases, disclosure conflicts unfold dynamically over time, reflecting power disparities between industry groups and their challengers and requiring coalitions of activists to pursue multiple tactics. When a disclosure policy is established, it does not resolve social conflict but shifts the focus of struggle to the design of information systems, the quality of disclosed data, and the knowledge gaps that are now illuminated.

Abstract:
This article explores social mobilization in the controversy over hydraulic fracturing (i.e. “fracking”) in Ireland from the perspectives of agenda setting in national and local Irish newspapers as well as framing by anti-fracking activists and journalists. We analysed all articles referencing hydraulic fracturing (and related terms) from 11 Irish national newspapers and 128 Irish local newspapers from April 2013 to April 2014, and interviewed 19 journalists, activists, and government officials affiliated with fracking issues in Ireland. Based on the analytical salience and resonance across prominent empirical themes in conjunction with theoretical insights, we conclude that social mobilization against fracking in Ireland is challenged by a frame war on the credibility of activists, diverse economic interests across national and local scales, and the need for procedural legitimacy in the contribution of science. In conclusion, this research demonstrates the importance of agenda setting and framing in structuring the capacity for social mobilization.

Abstract:
The news media’s increased reliance on visual communication to illustrate complex processes and promote learning stresses the importance of investigating how visual content impacts the understanding of scientific issues. In this paper, we investigate how members of the public interpret and make sense of differentially framed images of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) depicting environmental risk, economic benefit, or issue protest. For the analysis, a repeated measures online experiment was conducted with 250 participants to evaluate 40 photographs of fracking operations and consequences. Quantitative coding and thematic analysis of open-ended responses to the images reveal that standing attitudes, operationalized as support, opposition, or indecision about fracking, segments viewers into distinct groups and shapes interpretations of environmental risk and economic benefit. Issue opponents are more likely to indicate concern for the environment regardless of frame shown, whereas undecideds and supporters cite the impact on human health more frequently, largely in relation to job site safety. Supporters also see the least ambiguity, and most economic gains, in images about the controversial production practice.

Abstract:
Firm adoption of voluntary management practices is one proposed method of mitigating oil and gas development externalities while promoting flexibility in regulations. Where they face social challenges or uncertainties, firms may even voluntarily select deliberative processes in site planning thereby increasing stakeholder involvement. This article tests the potential for adoption of voluntary engagement practices to reduce the likelihood of citizen complaints. Using a dataset of complaints and practices from the state of Colorado, this article finds that adoption of engagement practices and further deliberation about sites is not associated with altered odds of observing a complaint at a wellsite once other variables are controlled. Where more voluntary management practices of any type are adopted, the odds of observing a complaint are higher. Inclusion of engagement and deliberation weaken this association. Finally, large companies, as defined by well counts, are more likely to adopt engagement and deliberation practices that can form the basis of collaboration than are small companies. This indicates that use of voluntary management practices is dependent on the resources available to individual firms, and thus, the environmental and social benefits of such policies are likely to accrue unevenly.

Abstract:
We examine how different sources and types of information affect the knowledge of landowners confronting a controversial emergent technology, high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF). HVHF may substantially affect the environmental, health, and economic and social realities faced by communities where drilling occurs. Yet how landowners in these areas learn about HVHF is largely unknown. Understanding landowner knowledge is important because HVHF development depends on voluntary choices of landowners, less knowledgeable landowners may be vulnerable to industry malfeasance, and support for HVHF is linked to familiarity with the industry. Using an original survey of Eastern Ohio landowners affected by HVHF, we find that they most frequently get information about HVHF from the news, oil/gas companies, social connections, and the internet. Information sourcing varies with demographics, socioeconomics, and political partisanship. Although landowners are exposed to many sources of information, most do not help them feel more informed about HVHF. Self-perceived familiarity with HVHF varies positively with the number of sources consulted, internet research, and receipt of information from the oil/gas industry and industry advocacy groups. Landowners often receive unsolicited information about HVHF, but this information rarely helps them feel more informed.

Abstract:
We investigate how Eastern Ohio landowners affected by the recent boom in high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) view the industry and the factors that affect their attitudes. Our unique sample almost exclusively contains individuals whose land is under lease for and/or experiencing HVHF. Nation- and state-wide surveys that investigate HVHF attitudes tend to find nearly even splits between opposed and supportive respondents, whose views are strongly influenced by political partisanship. These trends largely do not manifest among Eastern Ohio landowners, for whom personal experiences with HVHF crucially influence attitudes. Most respondents support HVHF and say it has benefited their community economically. Political partisanship does not significantly impact HVHF views. Contrary to arguments in the literature that economic considerations drive variation in support for HVHF, landowners' support for the industry also appears influenced by perceptions of its environmental and infrastructure impacts. Environmental concerns appear to more powerfully shape attitudes than economic benefits.

Abstract:
Abstract This study explored sustainable and conventional farmers? perceptions of unconventional natural gas development (UNGD) as it relates to agricultural production and distribution. Farmers (n = 200) in Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale region with gas drilling infrastructure on or near their farmland completed questionnaires; a subset (n = 16) of survey respondents participated in semi?structured interviews. Findings revealed sustainable farmers faced unique negative impacts from UNGD, including greater sensitivity to environmental impacts, risks to organic certification and market participation, declining consumer confidence, and depreciating value of sustainable operations. UNGD?related income and increased wealth within communities appeared to benefit agricultural production and sales, yet the most cited impact of UNGD on agricultural productivity was a decrease in crop production as farmland was used for UNGD. Findings also highlighted potential impacts on nascent local food markets in areas with UNGD, farmers? expectations for outside oversight of UNGD, and limited transparency of environmental safety violations.

Abstract:
China has recently become one of the world’s largest shale gas producers. However, little is known about how shale gas development and fracking affect local communities in China nor how local communities view this development. Drawing on fieldwork conducted during August 2015 in two villages in Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality, this article shows that while fracking leads to serious environmental and social problems there are also substantial economic and social benefits. Furthermore, this study uncovers both active and resigned support of shale gas development in rural China depending on whether local residents prioritize economics or politics.

Abstract:
This paper discusses a survey of public opinions on hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) for shale gas, conducted with a representative sample of 1745 British adults. Unusually, it examines beliefs about positive and negative statements about fracking as well as support/opposition. A majority of respondents correctly answered an initial question testing basic knowledge of shale gas extraction. More respondents supported fracking in Britain (36%) than opposed it (32%) but only 22% supported fracking locally, while 45% were opposed. Respondents were more united in negative beliefs than positive beliefs about fracking. More knowledgeable participants held more polarised views and were significantly more likely than others to agree with negative statements and to oppose fracking in their local area. More respondents disagreed than agreed that it is possible to compensate for fracking risks by payments to local communities. Policy implications include: increasing public knowledge about fracking will not necessarily lead to more positive beliefs and support regarding shale gas developments; promoting alleged economic benefits of shale gas is not enough to ensure support; engaging in genuinely inclusive participatory decision-making may be more likely to increase support than offering payments to communities; alternatively, developing more renewable energy capacity promises to be more popular than fracking.

Abstract:
In 2014, China became the world's third country to accomplish shale gas commercial development, following the United States and Canada. China still however lacks a comprehensive analysis of its public's concerns about potential environmental risks of shale gas exploration, particularly those of local residents near extraction sites. This paper specifically aims to explore risks perceived as associated with shale gas development in the Changning-Weiyuan area of Sichuan Basin, by conducting a face-to-face household survey with 730 participants interviewed. Some 86% of respondents reported their belief that shale gas exploitation causes more than three types of negative impacts, the most commonly perceived being noise, underground water contamination and geological disruption. Associated variables that were statistically significant predictors of risk perception include demographic characteristics (age, gender, education), environmental awareness level, landslide experience, awareness of past shale gas accidents, information sources, general knowledge about shale gas, and perspectives on whether negative impacts can be observed and controlled, along with trust in the central government and the petroleum company. Our findings implications are discussed, with the goal of informing both central and local authorities’ policy development in protecting local residents from risks of shale gas exploitation and better communicating risks to residents.

Abstract:
As unconventional natural gas development (UNGD) activities such as "fracking" have proliferated across the U.S., research has begun to examine their impacts on human life. Much scholarship has centered on possible health and environmental impacts. However, a range of plausible psychosocial impacts has begun to emerge. Utilizing grounded theory methods and data from qualitative interviews with residents of two counties in Appalachian Eastern Ohio (Guernsey and Noble), we examined the quality of life (QoL) impacts on residents, who live and work amid UNGD. QoL impacts were reported in five core categories, specifically psychological stress, social stress, environment, physical health, and traffic. Psychological stress was a particularly salient theme, as residents living near UNGD found themselves anxious about the uncertainties of fracking; frustrated by interactions with oil and gas industry officials; stressed about noise or light pollution; and, in some instances, facing the possibility of moving from the region. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract:
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of extracting reserves of natural gas and oil from shale formations deep underground. This process, initially met with public support in the United Kingdom, has since become a highly contentious issue primarily debated between government, industry, and anti-fracking advocacy groups. Through the employment of three levels of agenda-building as a theoretical lens of examination (object, attribute, and network connections), this study investigated the political discourse between these stakeholder groups and national news media in the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2014. In total, 1354 unique messages were coded, with 840 information subsidies and 514 news media content analyzed. To determine the short-, mid-, and long-term effects of agenda-building, a time-lag analysis was conducted. The results suggest solid support for all three levels of agenda-building. Our findings indicate that anti-fracking advocacy groups were more successful at influencing news media content across all three time periods, in addition to supporting the growing influence of digital information subsidies as an effective tool for agenda-building strategies. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Abstract:
Technological advancements in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have spurred a controversial boom in oil and gas production. In Colorado, these debates take place directly in the suburban metro corridor, where local governments are turning to memorandums of understanding (MOU), negotiated directly with industry operators, to shape industry activity. We show that in Erie, the town that first pioneered this policy tool, these MOUs ostensibly welcome public participation in the planning and deliberation process but can unintentionally reinforce scientism-based governance. Citizen science challenged the local government’s deficit model of the public, but it also shored up scientific authority and triggered a government imaginary of anti-fracking activists as an unruly public. Residents countered this imaginary by electing officials committed to public engagement and transparency, which opened up debates to encompass quality of life issues that had been sidelined by the original focus on competing scientific evidence about pollution. While fracking-related citizen science does not appear to be directly responsible for the government turnover and its attendant shift in governance, we suggest it did enhance civic engagement related to general issues of fiscal responsibility, ethics and transparency that did play a role in the election.

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Pursuing economic, environmental and social sustainability requires networks endowed with persistent relationships between stakeholders. Networks serve as the vehicle to coordinate diverse policy goals among stakeholders. Within the networks, stakeholders inevitably experience some level of distrust due to the complexity and uncertainty of the unstructured problems on the sustainability. However, little is known about why stakeholders often distrust with one another in the networks. By analysing a local fracking policy network in NYS, we suggest that distrust is influenced by incongruent ecological worldviews, policy goals incongruence in the triple bottom line of sustainability, characterization framing, policy communications and knowledge exchange.

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Although current environmental justice analyses shed light on fracking and fracking’s environmental and public health policy, a comprehensive justice analysis framework is needed in order to cover the policy gap of fracking impacts on the total environment, communities, and sustainability. Based on a concise summary of the effects of fracking on the total environment, the society and economy, and land use, this brief communication designs a conception of fracking equity and its spatial justice analysis prototype. Fracking equity is much beyond the scope of current environmental justice or social justice that is spatially limited within certain distance to fracking wells. Fracking equity based on the benefit and harm associated with fracking, not only encompasses environmental justice, social justice, but also emphasizes all stakeholder groups, the spatiotemporal characteristics of the justice of fracking, sustainable development, and the integrated analyzing methods including GIS, decision making, demographic analysis, spatiotemporal modeling at different scales, and long term analysis of fracking equity. Spatial justice of fracking unites the environmental, social, economic, ecological factors and their processes that are temporally changing and reshaping the space people live in and depend on, and these complicated factors and their dynamic interactions are the core of spatial justice.

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This is a comparative analysis of how regulatory regimes overlying the Bakken Shale Formation (Manitoba, Montana, North Dakota and Saskatchewan) provide for public participation in government decision-making processes for hydraulic fracturing technology. Three processes are examined and analysed: (1) policy development and rule-making; (2) licensing and operational decision-making processes; and (3) ensuring compliance with licence or approval conditions. Statutory provisions for public participation are often associated with the common law duty of 'procedural fairness'. A description of the Bakken and an overview of public concerns about potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on the environment, human health and communities are provided.

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Narratives are highly consequential in policy processes because they shape public perception of policy issues. The Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) seeks to predict the extent to which narratives are strategically used to influence policy outcomes. Its core hypotheses center around a winning vs. losing dichotomy, in which winning and losing narratives employ distinct sets of strategies. Due to the newness of the theory, there are few empirical tests of its components, and their results are inconclusive. We posit that the winning–losing paradigm does not accurately predict narrative strategy use. To test this hypothesis, we examine a policy dilemma where contextually similar jurisdictions adopted multiple different policy solutions over a common time period. From 2008 to 2012, more than 260 New York municipalities passed policies related to hydraulic fracturing (fracking). We analyze editorial content from two local newspapers in central New York whose distribution covers municipalities that adopted anti- and pro-fracking policies. Our findings reveal that narrators consistently use narrative strategies that correspond to the side of the issue they support, regardless of whether they are winning or losing the policy debate. This suggests the NPF’s winning–losing dichotomy may not be not well suited to predicting narrative strategy use or policy outcomes. 叙事影响了公众对政策问题的看法，所以其在政策过程中非常重要。叙事政策框架（NPF）旨在预测叙事将会在多大程度上被策略性地运用以影响政策结果。其核心假设围绕着成功与失败的二分法，即成功与失败的叙事会采用不同的策略。由于该理论的新颖性，现有文献仍很少实证检验其构成要素，并且尚没有一个决定性的结论。我们认为成功—失败的二分范式并不能准确预测叙事策略的使用。为了验证这一假设，我们研究了一个政策难题，即相似的行政区在相同的情况下、同一时间段内采用了多种不同的政策解决方案。自2008年到2012年，有260多个纽约地方自治区通过了与水力压裂（或称压裂）相关的政策。我们分析了纽约中部两家当地报纸的编辑评论，这两家报纸的发行地涵盖了对压裂政策持正反观点的地方自治区。我们的研究结果表明，叙事者始终会使用与他们所支持的问题相对应的叙事策略，这无关他们在这场政策论战中的结果是成功还是失败。这表明NPF的成功—失败二分法可能并不太适合用来预测叙事策略的使用或是政策结果。

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Abstract. Explaining the mechanisms that structure policy networks is an important subject of public management research as networks are key mechanisms of conv

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The potential impacts of fracking on the environment and health, as well as impacts on local communities and their “quality of life,” are well documented. This paper outlines the potential human rights impacts of fracking and argues for a human rights-based, participatory, and justice-based approach to regulation. In particular, it discusses the findings of the recent Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal session on human rights, fracking, and climate change, held in Oregon, United States, and the potential impact of the tribunal’s decision on other jurisdictions where fracking takes place, particularly England.

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Recent growth in unconventional oil and gas development is controversial, fueling an ongoing U.S. policy debate. Central to these discussions is hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a well-stimulation technique that has become synonymous with unconventional oil and gas extraction methods. This research applies the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to explore how culturally nuanced narratives shape individuals’ policy preferences toward fracking regulations. A census-balanced internet panel from Oregon and Arkansas (n = 1,145) is used to conduct a survey experiment where participants are randomly assigned to four groups and exposed to information regarding fracking practices. The control group receives a baseline fact list while three treatment groups are exposed to one of three culturally distinct narratives: an egalitarian narrative, a hierarch narrative, or an individualist narrative. Applying ANOVA and causal mediation analysis to this experimental data, we show that while there is no direct effect of narrative treatments on the formation of individuals’ fracking policy preferences, culturally nuanced narratives do influence attitudes on fracking policies indirectly through their effects on individuals’ reactions towards villain characters presented in the narratives. These findings describe a more complex cognitive interplay between narrative communication and policy preference formation than depicted in extant NPF scholarship, thereby challenging commonly held NPF assertions.

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Abstract. Recent technological innovations in unconventional oil and gas (UOG) production have transformed the global energy landscape. The combination of hydr

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The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the extant literature pertaining to perceived and objective social impacts associated with shale energy development in the southern United States. Findings from selected sociological studies conducted in the Barnett, Eagle Ford, and Haynesville shale plays reveal somewhat paradoxical perceptions with respect to shale energy development among both local leaders and the general citizenry. Whereas community leaders and residents recognize that not all economic effects of shale energy development have been positive, they generally appreciate and view favorably certain accompanying economic and/or service-related benefits. Typically, the opposite is the case with respect to the objective and perceived social and/or environmental issues that have accompanied shale energy development. Recent studies by several geographers and their colleagues in both the Barnett and Eagle Ford regions have complemented and furthered the sociological findings on the economic/service-related benefits and social/environmental costs associated with shale energy development in the southern United States. Results from their studies reveal a substantially uneven spatial distribution of positive and negative effects. I conclude this review by identifying several knowledge gaps and proposing suggestions for future research.

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Hydraulic fracturing is an energy extraction process that is increasingly attracting controversy. This article seeks to outline how the media report hydraulic fracturing (or ‘fracking’), and to explore its place within the reporting of energy concerns generally. To this end, it draws on an environmental communication perspective to understand media coverage of the issue and the processes that shape it. This review reveals that media coverage of fracking is partitioned according to discussions of the economic benefits or the environmental risks associated with the process. Further, these observed patterns in the coverage appear to mirror the recognised claims made about the issue and the influence from national polity on energy production and security. While there is evidence that news organisations and journalism mediate what is reported, their readers appear largely ambivalent or undecided on the issue at present. Therefore, it is argued that future research must continue to examine the coverage of hydraulic fracturing, its context, production and wider reception to develop our understanding of the role of the media in national conversations on fracking, energy and the environment.

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This paper considers public support for increased regulation of unconventional oil and gas development in Colorado. We examine the role of community economic identity and investigate the possibility of “colliding treadmills”in local political economies as drivers of policy preferences.We find that many place-based variables do little to predict regulatory support, but the cost associated with regulation (increased taxes) and political identity are especially important. Further, this paper is one of a handful of sociological analyses to employ the contingent valuation method for environmental valuation, in doing so it provides a first step toward establishing an empirically rigorous sociology of environmental valuation.

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With the rapid growth of unconventional oil and natural gas development transforming the U.S. economic and physical landscape, social scientists have increasingly explored the spatial dynamics of public support for this issue—that is, whether people closer to unconventional oil and gas development are more supportive or more opposed. While theoretical frameworks like construal-level theory and the “Not in My Backyard” (or NIMBY) moniker provide insight into these spatial dynamics, case studies in specific locations experiencing energy development reveal substantial variation in community responses. Larger-scale studies exploring the link between proximity and support have been hampered by data quality and availability. We draw on a unique data set that includes geo-coded data from national surveys (nine waves; n = 19,098) and high-resolution well location data to explore the relationship between proximity and both familiarity with and support for hydraulic fracturing. We use two different measures of proximity—respondent distance to the nearest well and the density of wells within a certain radius of the respondent's location. We find that both types of proximity to new development are linked to more familiarity with hydraulic fracturing, even after controlling for various individual and contextual factors, but only distance-based proximity is linked to more support for the practice. When significant, these relationships are similar to or exceed the effects of race, income, gender, and age. We discuss the implications of these findings for effective risk communication as well as the importance of incorporating spatial analysis into public opinion research on perceptions of energy development.

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Increased unconventional oil and gas development has created concerns about property right issues and land degradation problems for many U.S. landowners. Many states allow "forced pooling," which forces landowners to lease their lands to an operator, even if the owner disagrees, when a threshold is reached. Extension professionals need to provide relevant information to decision makers and other local stakeholders on the effects of forced pooling. This article examines how forced pooling laws can affect local voice. Findings suggest that the holders of decision-making power at the local level differ according to the forced pooling thresholds used. © 2018 Extension Journal Inc.

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Extensive research over the last five years has demonstrated that those who live near hydraulic fracturing wells and their associated infrastructure are at risk of a variety of health problems. Along with knowledge of these risks comes the ethical question of who is bearing these risks and how decisions are made about who bears the risks. This article reviews how environmental justice scholars have addressed the ethical concerns raised by the fracking boom. It draws out how this work relates to the three main types of environmental justice: distributive, procedural and recognition-based environmental justice.

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This paper investigates the political contestation over hydraulic fracturing of shale gas, or ‘fracking’, in the UK. Based on an analysis of four public inquiries we show how both proponents and opponents of fracking employed scaling to mobilize interests by connecting (or disconnecting) fracking to spatial and temporal scales. Our analysis explains how a fossil fuel hegemony was reproduced by linking local and specific benefits to nationally or globally recognized interests, such as, employment, energy security and emission reductions. The paper contributes to recent debates on environmental political contestation by showing how scaling enables the linkage of competing interests by alternating between spatial (e.g. local vs. global) and temporal (e.g. short term vs. long term) horizons. We argue that scaling allows dominant actors to uphold contradictory positions on climate change, which contributes to explaining the current disastrous political climate impasse.

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Advances in hydraulic fracturing (aka “fracking”) technologies and horizontal drilling have enabled the extraction of previously unviable unconventional oil and gas resources. However, as global environmental...