Repository for Oil and Gas Energy Research (ROGER)

Abstract:
The science on the effects of global climate change and air pollution on morbidity and mortality is clear and debate now centres around the scale and precise contributions of particular pollutants. Sufficient data existed in recent decades to support the adoption of precautionary public health policies relating to fossil fuels including shale exploration. Yet air quality and related public health impacts linked to ethical and environmental justice elements are often marginalized or missing in planning and associated decision making. Industry and government policies and practices, laws and planning regulations lagged well behind the science in the United Kingdom. This paper explores the reasons for this and what shaped some of those policies. Why did shale gas policies in England fail to fully address public health priorities and neglect ethical and environmental justice concerns. To answer this question, an interdisciplinary analysis is needed informed by a theoretical framework of how air pollution and climate change are largely discounted in the complex realpolitik of policy and regulation for shale gas development in England. Sources, including official government, regulatory and planning documents, as well as industry and scientific publications are examined and benchmarked against the science and ethical and environmental justice criteria. Further, our typology illustrates how the process works drawing on an analysis of official policy documents and statements on planning and regulatory oversight of shale exploration in England, and material from industry and their consultants relating to proposed shale oil and gas development. Currently the oil, gas and chemical industries in England continue to dominate and influence energy and feedstock-related policy making to the detriment of ethical and environmental justice decision making with significant consequences for public health.

Abstract:
Oil and natural gas activity has grown dramatically over the last decade around the United States because, in part, of increased use of unconventional technologies like hydraulic fracturing. Social scientists have examined the broad array of impacts of this growth to communities disproportionately impacted by activity. This paper contributes to that work by using survey and qualitative interviews to examine the experiences of Coloradans with harm created by oil and gas activity when they live adjacent to production or extraction sites. Using a green criminological and critical criminological framing, our findings illuminate that Coloradans in these samples experienced persistent and patterned harm from oil and gas activity to which they lived proximate. Additionally—paralleling criminological literature on street crime—our findings indicate that official state records on harm prevalence is likely inaccurate and that, instead, a “dark figure” of harm exists. This results because of underreporting of harm by those who experience it which occurs in part, at least for those in our sample, because of a lack of trust or sense of fairness in the regulatory process.

Abstract:
The anti-fracking movement (AFM) in Bulgaria, was a successful grassroots local-to-national organizing effort to change public policy. The study draws on social movements, community psychology, and grassroots democracy theory to explore, describe and critique how participants in the AFM collectively constructed meanings and practices of organizing in interaction with the sociopolitical context as they expanded their efforts from the local to the national level of policy-making. Data for the study were collected from semi-structured interviews with activists, movement documents, and participant observations. Structured and open coding followed by qualitative analyses produced descriptions and explanations of grassroots democracy in the movement. The movement was based on a prefigurative vision and practice of an antihierarchical “civic society” and was also shaped by the demands of the Bulgarian political context. Power, consent, and participation had dynamic meanings and forms that secured both grassroots democracy and effective political action. Тhe AFM resisted well-known mechanisms of hierarchization and co-optation, but it also reproduced certain inequalities of power. The findings relate to recent trends for expansion of community organizing to the national level of politics, for expansion of the community organizing models outside the United States, and for a popular grassroots preference for anti-organizational organizing.

Abstract:
Risky energy technologies are often controversial and debates around them are polarized; in such debates public acceptability is key. Research on public acceptability has emphasized the importance of intrapersonal factors but has largely neglected the influence of interpersonal factors. In an online survey (N = 948) with a representative sample of the United Kingdom, we therefore integrate interpersonal factors (i.e., social influence as measured by social networks) with two risky energy technologies that differ in familiarity (nuclear power vs. shale gas) to examine how these factors explain risk and benefit perceptions and public acceptability. Findings show that benefit perceptions are key in explaining acceptability judgments. However, risk perceptions are more important when people are less familiar with the energy technology. Social network factors affect perceived risks and benefits associated with risky energy technology, hereby indirectly helping to form one's acceptability judgment toward the technology. This effect seems to be present regardless of the perceived familiarity with the energy technology. By integrating interpersonal with intrapersonal factors in an explanatory model, we show how the current “risk–benefit acceptability” model used in risk research can be further developed to advance the current understanding of acceptability formation.

Abstract:
Assessing the sustainability of energy systems must include attention to the local social and environmental impacts of such energy production, though these do not always easily align with more regional and global concerns. Social science research demonstrates that public perceptions of the social and environmental risks associated with unconventional oil and gas development (glossed by critics as “fracking”) vary both at an individual and community level. This article provides a comparative analysis of three proposed factors that influence risk perceptions: trust in government institutions, socioeconomic profile, and historical experiences with industry. We compare two Colorado communities that each had established a participatory local governance framework to minimize negative environmental impacts from oil and gas developments, but that were characterized by distinct socioeconomic profiles and industrial histories. Our quantitative analysis of citizen comments during public hearings suggests two key findings that were not predicted by the existing literature: neither trust in local government nor historical ties to heavy industry were associated with diminished risk perceptions. These findings suggest new pathways for more constructive engagement among industry, state and local government, and citizens.

Abstract:
Research demonstrates that opinions about global warming and induced seismicity, earthquakes caused by human activity, are influenced by political party affiliation and ideology more than by education. Republicans and conservatives typically express less concern about environmental issues. One mechanism for how these factors shape opinion is through elite cues, wherein the prominent cultural, economic, and political voices associated with the major U.S. political parties provide guideposts that laypeople may use to form their opinions, particularly for complex social issues. Using two waves (n = 2586 and n = 2581) from a statewide survey in Oklahoma (USA), we explore the effects of political party affiliation, ideology, and education on residents’ opinions about the causes of and risk associated with these phenomena using Ordinary Least Squares and binary logistic regression equations. We examine whether these factors have a larger impact on opinions about global warming or induced seismicity using seemingly unrelated regression for the OLS equations and seemingly unrelated estimation for the binary logistic equations. These methods allow a global warming model to be estimated simultaneously with an earthquake model using the same independent variables. Consistent with other research, we found strong evidence that Republicans and conservatives perceive less risk from global warming and earthquakes than Democrats and liberals. However, the moderating effect of education on these environmental beliefs was not significant. The effects of political party affiliation and ideology were stronger for the opinions about global warming, which we hypothesize may be explained by the concept of psychological distance. This is an area for further research.

Abstract:
Abstract Aims The anti-fracking movement in Bulgaria, 2011?2013, was a successful grassroots effort to influence national environmental policy. The study draws on social movements and community psychology scholarship to investigate the emergence, development, and implications of activist identities as an important force for the movement's success. Methods Within a qualitative design, data were collected from interviews with activists, observations of organizing events, movement documents, and media publications. Structured and open coding followed by qualitative analyses produced descriptions and explanations of the construction and use of identities in the movement. Results Four major identities emerged in social and discursive interactions among activists and between activists and contextual forces: Victims, Bulgarians, Nature-protectors, and Citizens. The four identities were used interchangeably and afforded differential empowerment and opportunities for participation in policy-making. Conclusion The emerging activist identities were processes and products of the complex relationships between agency and context. The study contributes in illuminating the links between policy context, empowerment, participation, and political action.

Abstract:
Hydraulic fracturing has transformed how unconventional natural gas and oil resources are extracted across the globe, with much disagreement over its potential environmental impacts, as well as the likelihood of those impacts. Using in-depth interviews, this study examines the views of two stakeholder groups, academic scientists and local governmental representatives, who have been involved in the debate over hydraulic fracturing in Texas’s Dallas-Fort Worth region, fracking’s modern-day birthplace. I explore how individuals within these two groups discuss uncertainty, and how they think their uncertainty framing impacts the public’s perceptions of them. In addition, this study adds to previous research on how expert groups frame uncertainty by integrating Wynne’s (1992) expanded typology of uncertainty, which includes the concepts of risk, uncertainty, ignorance, and indeterminacy.

Abstract:
Unlike conventional resources, unconventional gas (such as shale gas) is trapped in low permeability rock, from which it does not flow naturally. Hence, its extraction is costly and requires sophisticated technologies. Building on my ethnographic work in north-west England and south-east Poland, I explore people’s engagements with shale gas materialities to show how the category of an ‘unconventional resource’ – framed by geological and engineering sciences – has more than merely technological implications. Instead, shale gas produces new sociotechnical relations by trying to remove itself from social entanglements. These attempts fail to contain the unruly forces of the subsurface and local impacts, bringing the alienating dynamics of resource-making into sharp relief. The irregularities of materials and infrastructural limits, integral to the socially dis-embedded ‘unconventionality’ of the developments, inadvertently turn shale gas projects into a site of the political.

Abstract:
This analysis of in-depth interviews with members of Frack Free Denton and Denton Taxpayers for a Strong Economy explores the dynamic divide caused by hydraulic fracturing in Denton, Texas. The most vocal and persuasive groups involved in the debate have discursive power to influence public opinion, which in turn shapes policies and practices. This analysis shows that pro- and anti-fracking groups conveyed an attachment to and ownership of the local land and engaged in harsh “othering” discourse to describe the opposing group. This study contributes to scholarly understandings of the relationship(s) between public perceptions of hydraulic fracturing, land use, and proximity.

Abstract:
While fossil fuel interests have long played a powerful role in shaping American politics and culture, in recent decades, transnational oil and gas companies have formed hundreds of “partnerships” with American colleges and universities to fund energy research and development. Moreover, oil and gas interests have established a foothold in major universities by sponsoring research conferences, scholarships, science centers, and laboratories addressing technological advances in hydraulic fracturing methods, including leasing land for drilling on university-owned property. In this article, I critically assess some of the broad economic linkages between fossil fuel companies and higher education in the United States and the role that corporate philanthropy plays today in expanding the profits and power of the oil and gas industry, as well as the financial base and academic stature of select colleges and universities. Finally, I draw some preliminary conclusions about the growing colonization of university space and other public institutions by energy corporations.

Abstract:
Hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) is one of the most controversial energy production processes in the United States and globally. In democracies, maintaining energy policy on politically salient and controversial issues, such as the use of fracking, depends on popular support at local if not national levels. We therefore study the effectiveness of widely cited arguments about fracking in a representative sample of the United States. Consistent with framing theory, we find that arguments that emphasize the environmental costs of fracking drive down support, while arguments emphasizing job creation and energy security increase it. However, we also show that presenting competing information from pro-fracking and anti-fracking frames together neutralizes individual framing effects, albeit not for every combination of frames and counter-frames. Framing effects become stronger when arguments, particularly about water contamination, are congruent with respondents’ pre-existing beliefs, which may lead to further polarization in the public debate. The exact kinds of arguments and how they are paired with one another do matter—a finding that is relevant for our understanding of public opinion on climate change and renewable energy policy more broadly.

Abstract:
The use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract oil and gas has generated intense debates in many countries. While the volume of empirical research on fracking attitudes internationally has grown considerably, there remains a need to focus attention on local contexts in which fracking takes place given the high degrees of variability in factors affecting attitude formation at the local scale. The Province of Alberta is a focal point for oil and gas development in Canada, and fracking has been expanding rapidly here, but little research has been conducted on attitudes toward fracking in this province, particularly in communities located in fracking zones. Understanding local perspectives toward fracking is critically important for tailoring energy policies that reflect local interest and concern. We examine perspectives about fracking among residents in three Alberta municipalities, each of which has experienced unique political-economic relationships with the energy industry. Our results suggest that trust, knowledge, and gender (male) are positively associated with fracking support. Notably, in a high energy-dependence community, residents express strong support despite experience with the impacts of fracking, and trust is expressed differently toward government organizations across the three study sites, signalling the importance of local context to fracking attitudes.

Abstract:
This mixed-methods study examined the impacts of shale natural gas energy development (SGD) related activities upon outdoor recreation in Pennsylvania. Much of the ongoing and proposed SGD infrastructure in Pennsylvania is located either within or adjacent to public lands, waters, and protected areas, raising concerns about the potential environmental and social impacts upon recreation stakeholders. The extensive body of SGD research within the United States has suggested there are numerous positive and negative impacts upon the general public. Yet, the impact of SGD upon outdoor recreation users remains unclear. While SGD impacts are becoming progressively evident to both recreationists and natural resource managers, few studies have sought to specifically assess the extent to which SGD alters outdoor recreation behaviors, experiences, and activities. This statewide survey of Pennsylvanians (n = 2240) found that 23.4% of respondents had encountered SGD related activities while participating in outdoor recreation. Study findings also noted that 13.8% of respondents had changed their outdoor recreation behaviors or experiences as a result of encountering SGD related activities. Moreover, a sub-sample, representing 12.3% of respondents, identified specific SGD related impacts (e.g., aesthetic, environmental, infrastructure) upon their outdoor recreation behaviors, experience, and activities which sometimes resulted in substitution behaviors and/or a lack of perceived ‘fit’ between the energy development and the landscape and environment. From a policy and management standpoint, study findings highlight the specific and nuanced impacts of SGD upon certain sub-populations of outdoor recreationists as well as the importance of assessing and communicating recreation experience and use impacts to all recreationists when planning, developing, and managing SGD and related decisions in the United States. Management Implications This study found that only a small population of Pennsylvania outdoor recreationists were impacted by SGD related activities. In the regions of Pennsylvania where SGD was most prominent (e.g., North Central and Southwest), outdoor recreation impacts were considerably higher. Moreover, a sub-sample of respondents found that SGD impacted their outdoor recreation behaviors, their in situ recreation experiences, and/or the environmental setting and landscape in which they recreated. Study findings suggest a two-tiered communication approach, accounting for perceptions of both behavioral and/or landscape environmental quality impacts, may be the most comprehensive strategy for addressing and communicating the impacts of SGD upon outdoor recreationists.

Abstract:
Impacts from energy development have been shown to affect different demographic, stakeholder, and community groups in different ways, which in turn may differ across energy regimes, project lifecycles, and geographies. This research examines the social and structural influences which may amplify or attenuate the varied impacts of unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) in a heretofore under-examined energy impact geography: the periphery region of Ohio’s Utica Shale. We conduct fifty-four (54) interviews in five Ohio communities to test and extend the Goldilocks Zone analytic framework of energy impacts, in which some energy periphery communities have been shown to experience moderate, positive spillover economic gains but minimal social harms in virtue of their socio-geographic distance from core UOGD activity. We find support for a Goldilocks Zone in the Utica Shale periphery, however the size and strength of effects are attenuated by the varied population densities, geographic and political economy diversities, natural resource legacies, and industry mixes and dependences of the Appalachian Range. This research contributes to the limited scholarship examining the effects of energy development in periphery impact geographies as well as provides baseline energy impact and perception data in a region that has received very little academic scrutiny despite ongoing and significant future potential for unconventional oil and gas development. Finally, this article tests and extends the Goldilocks Zone of energy impacts analytic framework in a new social, geographic, and energy context.

Abstract:
Political conservatives are consistently more supportive of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the U.S., while political liberals are consistently more opposed, yet the processes shaping this division are largely unexplored. Here, we illustrate how political polarization in support for fracking can be understood by how risk and benefit perceptions mediate the relationship between political ideology and support for fracking, with liberals seeing greater risk and less benefit. Importantly, however, especially for understanding opinion formation around the issue of fracking, perceived knowledge exacerbates this division. Liberals who report being more informed about fracking are likely to see greater risk from fracking. Conservatives who report being more informed, however, do not see a significantly different level of risk than do conservatives who are less informed but are much more likely than any other group to see greater benefit from fracking. The result is that those who perceive themselves as highly knowledgeable about fracking are the most likely to be polarized by political ideology in their perceptions of the level of risk and benefit associated with fracking and, in turn, their level of support for the technology. We discuss the implications of these findings for communication and decision-making in the politically polarized environment around fracking.

Abstract:
Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is an emerging “unconventional” technology in the oil and gas exploitation sector linked to high levels of uncertainty. In this paper, we examine the level of support for fracking in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. This province is also one of the regions of the country in which fracking could be performed and whose economy could substantially benefit from the availability of this new source of energy resources. However, there remain serious obstacles to the social acceptability of fracking among the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and, in particular, the prospect of fracking in Western Newfoundland is a highly controversial issue. This area hosts one of the most highly valuable natural areas in the province (Gros Morne National Park). We identify key factors to oppose or support fracking. Using a multinomial logit model, we characterize different groups of citizens who oppose or support fracking and also other ‘conventional’ extractive technologies. Institutional issues, environmental risks, and socio-economic factors will be considered when explaining attitudes towards fracking. Further understanding the acceptability of this ‘unconventional’ technology should help public regulators make decisions and design optimal policies in the oil and gas extraction sector.

Abstract:
Growing attention has been paid to understanding public risk perceptions of shale gas development. This research has largely been conducted in the United States and Europe. Arguably, the environmental and social risks posed by drilling are potentially more severe in places like China, due to its geography and political system. However, little is known how those constantly exposed to risks (the “affected” public) evaluate these risks. In this study, in-depth interviews were conducted with local residents (n=25) in Weiyuan County, Sichuan Province, the region with the largest shale gas reserves in the country, to identify the perceived risks of the affected Chinese public and to explore underlying factors that impact risk perception. Our results suggest that affected Chinese residents were most concerned about groundwater contamination and air pollution above all other risks, and they tended to link risks to spatial proximity to shale gas wells. The multifaceted nature of perceived benefits played a novel and nuanced role in Chinese residents’ risk perception. Pride and disempowerment were found to attenuate the risk judgments of affected Chinese residents, which has not been observed in previous literature. Our findings provides policymakers with insight into how to improve risk communications to enhance understanding of affected publics, as well as to better design compensation schemes that may address inequities.

Abstract:
Using data on the geographic location of fracking wells in four U.S. states with mandatory disclosure between 2011 and 2013 — Colorado, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas — this paper analyzes the socio-demographic characteristics of people living close to fracking activity. Geo-coded well data from the FracFocus registry are merged to blockgroup-level socio-demographic data from the 2006–2010 American Community Survey and population density and land use data from EPA's Smart Location Database 2010. Different buffer zones around fracking wells are applied to capture effects at different spatial scales and to compare only areas with similar geological properties. We explain the distance to the nearest well within a county with fracking activity or within a buffer zone by race/ethnicity, income, educational attainment, various land-use control variables, and county fixed-effects. We find robust evidence that minorities, especially African Americans, disproportionately live near fracking wells, but less consistent evidence for environmental injustice by income or educational attainment. Strong heterogeneity across states can be observed, suggesting that an improvement in disclosure laws in other states, that would make similar analyses possible, is of great importance.

Abstract:
Unconventional oil and gas technologies—such as hydraulic fracturing—have drastically increased the volume of oil and gas produced in the U.S., while simultaneously bringing drilling closer to residential areas. We examine quality of life impacts of unconventional oil and gas production, arguing that how people perceive its local effects is rooted in their political identities. Using survey data from three northern Colorado communities, we employ counterfactual mediation methods to understand relationships between political identity, perceived socio-environmental and community changes from oil and gas development, and self-reported quality of life. We find significant differences in how people perceive local development based upon political identity, whereby Tea Party supporters see little negative impact, and in turn are likely to believe that local development improves their quality of life. At the other extreme, Democrats perceive more negative community changes from oil and gas development and are more apt to believe that it reduces their quality of life. Republicans who do not support the Tea Party and political independents hold more mixed views. Overall, our analysis suggests that people's perceptions of local energy development and how it matters for their quality of life is, to some degree, a function of their political identities.

Abstract:
Shale gas extraction is a highly controversial process. Despite significant proven or potential reserves, public reaction to extraction have often been negative. In some cases, this has prevented exploration. In this paper, we investigate the structure of public attitudes to shale gas extraction in the context of the United Kingdom, using a dedicated survey of 4992 respondents. We find that public attitudes to shale gas extraction have a unidimensional structure, such that all questions about the virtues and limitations of extraction are treated as a single issue. Nonetheless, this general structure masks two distinct attitudinal structures. Those with more familiarity with shale gas have a very strong unidimensional attitudinal structure, while those with the least familiarity have a two-dimensional attitudinal structure; representing distinctions between perceived positive and negative attributes. This suggests an important role for information in conditioning responses to shale gas, a factor with implications for how government addresses policy relating to shale gas extraction.

Abstract:
Despite extensive social science research into public perceptions and social responses to fracking, scholars have only begun to examine the relationship between distance to development and support or opposition for it. Importantly, the emerging studies are exclusively from the United States, and focus on communities and regions in which fracking already exists – in contrast to areas where it is proposed and still going through planning approvals. This paper reports public responses to proposed fracking in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. A total of 120 people participated in an in-person survey with a qualitative followup in four locations: the village right next to the development site, two other villages just inside and just outside the wider fracking concession area, and in the capital city of Belfast, 150 km away. A clear spatial pattern of opinion was found, from almost universal opposition to fracking next to the site, to an even threeway split between proponents, opponents and ‘neutrals’ to fracking in general, in Belfast. Results show that some risks are perceived to be more local than others, whilst perceived (economic) benefits are recognised mainly at the national level. Content analysis of local and national newspapers revealed a very clear and similar pattern. Connections to Fermanagh, through visits or long-term residence, were also clear predictors of opposition to fracking. The spatial pattern of support for fracking in Northern Ireland differs substantially from each of the contrasting patterns observed in the United States. We discuss likely reasons for this and implications for both research and policy.

Abstract:
The drilling phase of oil and natural gas development is a growing area of environmental justice (EJ) research, particularly in the United States. Its emergence complements longstanding EJ scholarship on later phases of the oil and gas commodity chain, such as pipeline transport, refining, and consumption. The growing scholarly attention to the EJ implications of drilling has been prompted by the surge in development of unconventional oil and gas resources in recent decades. More specifically, the oil and gas industry’s adoption of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a., “fracking” or “fracing”) as methods for extracting oil and gas from a wider range of geologic formations has simultaneously heightened oil and gas production, brought extractive activities closer to more people, intensified them, and made well pad siting more flexible. Here, we provide a critical review of the novel EJ research questions that are being prompted by these on-the-ground changes in extractive techniques and patterns, propose an interdisciplinary conceptual framework for guiding EJ inquiry in this context, discuss key methodological considerations, and propose a research agenda to motivate future inquiry.

Abstract:
Risk communication scholars have examined public perception of scientific consensus on a variety of politically controversial risk topics; social-psychological factors that shape such views (i.e., political ideology); and effects on issue attitudes. Few studies, however, have combined these antecedents and outcomes within a single framework – one that describes how politically polarized attitudes emerge via ideologically-divergent perceptions of scientific agreement. We address this shortcoming in the context of an emerging risk topic – unconventional oil and natural gas development (UOGD) in the United States – that is politically controversial and where scientific agreement on specific impacts along with value-laden assessments of benefit and risk are subjects of scholarly and public debate. Using a quota survey of United States adults (n = 700), we find that political conservatism heightened support indirectly via: (1) perceived scientific consensus that benefits outweigh the risks and, in turn, the belief that UOGD’s health, economic, and environmental impacts in the United States have been positive and (2) lower perception of scientific consensus that risks outweigh benefits, which likewise heightened beliefs that aforementioned impacts have been positive. We discuss implications for risk communication research related to energy development.

Abstract:
Hydraulic fracturing, often called fracking, is a drilling technique that accesses previously inaccessible oil/gas reserves. Although the process could aid U.S. energy independence, it is controversial and public opinion is divided. Guided by agenda-setting and framing, this study content analyses news coverage of fracking (N = 524) across cable networks (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC). Results show cable news lacks substance and relies on thematic framing. While all networks failed to provide factual information, issue-related topics discussed and sources used vary ideologically. Theoretical and practical implications, which include the potential for priming audiences and influencing future behaviors and judgments, are discussed.

Abstract:
A survey with an embedded experiment was conducted to test how residents would respond to a commitment by oil and natural gas producers to conduct nearby fracking operations in a manner that is more protective of health and the environment than existing state and federal regulations. The experiment specifically assessed how the use of independent third-party certification of operations coupled with "beyond compliance" practices would influence local public support for oil and gas development. The state of Colorado was chosen due to its long history of oil and gas development, its leadership amongst states in advancing fracking, and the current local-level conflicts surrounding oil and gas development. A public opinion survey (N = 390) of a representative sample of Colorado residents found that "green certification" of a production company's activities led to substantially increased levels of support for a hypothetical nearby oil and natural gas project. Our findings suggest that oil and gas developers can obtain greater public support for their projects by voluntarily engaging in practices that are more protective than current state and federal regulations together with third-party certification of those practices. In effect, these coupled actions serve as a mechanism that promotes a firm's "social license to operate".

Abstract:
Unconventional natural gas (UNG) refers to a suite of technologies that aid in the exploration, extraction, and transportation of natural gas resources. This paper reports on the results of a scoping review examining peer-reviewed articles published between 2009–2018 on the impacts of UNG activities on communities located across the supply chain (i.e. “upstream” communities adjacent to the point of gas extraction, “midstream” communities located near pipelines, and “downstream” communities that are cooling natural gas into liquid form for international export). Our review identified 523 articles, 68% of which focused on the United States. The majority of articles (77%) highlighted community impacts adjacent to the point of extraction, with only 11% and 6% addressing midstream and downstream supply chain impacts. Results classified 28 unique types of community impacts conceptualized within the literature, organized into four categories: environmental impacts; impacts to infrastructure and service delivery; impacts on policy, regulation and participation in decision-making; and socioeconomic impacts. We provide a narrative review to clarify the socioeconomic impacts and possible policy mitigation efforts across the UNG supply chain.

Abstract:
Unconventional gas development can bring rapid change to local communities who often have limited resources and capacity to deal with them. To focus limited resources and capacities, it is essential to identify the underlying factors which are most important for maintaining perceptions of community wellbeing and resilience in different phases of development. Little extant research identifies how these factors may change over different industry phases (cf. boom-bust cycles). This paper identifies important factors for subjective community wellbeing and resilience in the construction and post-construction phases of unconventional gas development in the Western Downs region of rural Queensland, Australia. Survey data from 400 residents in 2014 and 400 in 2016 were used to examine changes in subjective community wellbeing and resilience between these phases. The most important dimensions underlying community wellbeing in both phases were perceptions of “services and facilities” and “community spirit, cohesion and trust”, with the latter more important in the construction phase. The most important community issues relating to community resilience were perceptions of environmental management, which was unfavourable in both phases, and perceived economic opportunities, which become unfavourable in the post-construction or early operations phase. Subjective evaluations of community planning, leadership and information sharing around responses to unconventional gas development were also seen as limited in local communities. Additionally, communities did not feel heard and there was a lack of trust in industry and government. Finally, this paper discusses implications of these findings. Enhancing services and facilities is an important and relatively straightforward way of enhancing subjective community wellbeing being and resilience. However, community spirit, cohesion, and trust are equally important, though perhaps not given the same emphasis in social investment plans. Concerns about environmental management persist across both phases and local communities need to prepare for a decline in economic activity after the construction phase.

Abstract:
Applications for exploratory shale gas development via hydraulic fracturing (fracking) have raised concern about energy development impacts in South Africa. Initially, focus was on the arid Karoo, but interest now includes KwaZulu-Natal, a populous, agricultural province with high cultural, ecological, and economic diversity. We conducted focus groups and an online survey to determine how some South Africans perceive fracking. Focus group participants were unanimous in their opposition, primarily citing concerns over water quality and rural way-of-life. The survey confirmed broad consistency with focus group responses. When asked which provinces might be affected by fracking, KwaZulu-Natal ranked behind provinces in the Karoo, suggesting an awareness bias towards Karoo projects. Frequently-identified concerns regarding Agriculture and Natural Resources were Reduced quality of water, Negative impacts to ecosystems and natural biodiversity, Reduced quantity of water, and Pollution hazards. Frequent concerns regarding Social, Cultural, and Local Community issues were Impacts to human health, Visual/aesthetic degradation of tourism areas, Degradation of local infrastructure, and Physical degradation of tourism sites. Most survey respondents were pessimistic about potential benefits of fracking to South Africa’s domestic energy supply, and did not agree fracking would reduce negative impacts of coal mining or create jobs. Survey respondents were pessimistic about government’s preparedness for fracking and agreed fracking created opportunity for corruption. Many respondents agreed they would consider fracking when voting, and identified needs for more research on fracking in South Africa, which focused heavily on environmental impacts, especially water, in addition to the welfare of local citizens and their communities.

Abstract:
We introduce the new concept of embodied energy injustices in order to encourage integrative, systemic, transboundary assessment of the global implications and responsibility of energy-policy decisions. Embodied energy injustices reframe considerations of energy justice to explicitly consider hidden and distant injustices (upstream or downstream) arising from the extraction, processing, transportation and disposal of energy resources. We assess the embodied energy injustices connected to the decision to decommission a coal-fired power plant in Salem, Massachusetts, US, and its replacement with a natural-gas-fired power station. Cerrejón open-pit coalmine in La Guajira, Colombia, powered the Salem plant for over a decade. Fracked gas from Pennsylvania now supplies fuel for the new power station. Comparing the extraction of these two very different fuels reveals multiple parallel injustices. But the regulatory environment fails to account for the different constituencies, jurisdictions and effects that fall outside the formal remit of existing impact assessments. We therefore call for mandatory transboundary impact assessments of large-scale energy-related projects, which explicitly integrate previously unrecognized social-environmental harms and injustices. Expanding energy law and policy discussions to incorporate embodied energy injustices can enhance sustainable energy governance and enable corporate accountability for the transboundary harms of fossil fuel extraction and use. Linking chains of energy injustice—by revealing their interconnected positions along fossil-fuel supply chains—may help generate and unite powerful trans-local solidarity movements, which politicize local struggles within wider national, regional and global energy politics.

Abstract:
This paper seeks to expand an emerging, multi-disciplinary body of work about tradeoffs in the agriculture-oil and gas nexus by offering evidence of the ways that farm and ranch operators experienced and negotiated costs and benefits of hosting oil and gas in three U.S. oil and gas plays. We report results of mail survey sent to landowners in four rural counties in three U.S. oil and gas regions (Marcellus, Powder River Basin and Bakken) and specifically data from farmers and ranchers about perceptions and experiences of the agriculture-oil and gas nexus (n = 96). The data provided through closed- and open-ended questions suggest, from the perspective of those hosting energy infrastructure on farms and ranches, oil and gas development has enhanced agriculture operations and rural livelihoods but is not without negative impacts or tradeoffs. We introduce the balancing act as a useful framework for considering tradeoffs associated with hosting extractive industries as it allows space for the “balance” between economic activities to be impossible, aspirational or achievable. The study observes that mechanisms through which positive and negative effects operate vary according to agricultural context. Implications for research and practice in the agriculture-energy nexus are discussed.

Abstract:
Shale oil and gas extraction technology has caused a large shift in the United States' energy landscape over the last decade. This had a wide range of impacts on rural communities mostly in which oil and gas extraction occurs. While many studies have focused on the economic and environmental impact of shale development, researchers have only begun to study the social changes brought on by the shale resource extraction. We examine the influence of shale oil and gas employment as a share of overall county employment on county marriage, divorce, and cohabitation rates. We find evidence that oil and gas employment growth is associated with decreased marriage rates and increased divorce rates from 2009 to 2014. We test several channels through which oil and gas development may influence marriage behaviors and find that changes in female labor force participation, county sex ratios, and median household incomes are associated with oil and gas development. We also test for differences across the rural/urban continuum and find that our results are largely driven by nonmetro counties.

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Data collected from random samples of residents and absentee landowners in two counties in the Eagle Ford Shale region of South Texas were used to examine the perceptions regarding influence, inclusion, and trust of local leaders and other stakeholders in the area. Additionally, two hypotheses pertaining to the association between individuals’ perceptions of inclusion by local governments—both city and county—and individuals’ levels of trust in those governments as sources of information about the positive and negative impacts of shale oil and/or natural gas development were tested and supported. Substantive descriptive and statistical analyses are reported.

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In this era of global challenges in energy policy, the importance of siting of facilities connected to development of energy system is greater than ever. At the same time, spreading of these facilities has often been controversial in surrounding communities. This article advances the debate on this phenomenon by focusing on an aspect of siting controversies that has become a game changer in recent years but has received remarkably little attention: the role of Web 2.0 in siting conflicts. To explore the impact of Web 2.0, the paper uses a case study approach, examining the influence of access to the Internet in two siting conflicts associated with shale gas prospecting in Poland in the period from 2012 to 2014. The possibilities that Web 2.0 offers to residents and other local actors in siting conflicts - access to knowledge, the ability to reframe the local debate using international resources, and mobilization of a network of support by sharing their version of the story - influence the dynamics of risk communication during siting controversies.

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In 2011, Maryland established the Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative to determine whether and how gas production in the state could be accomplished without causing unacceptable risks to public health, safety, natural resources, and the environment. This initiative required a statewide health impact assessment of unconventional natural gas development and production via hydraulic fracturing (i.e., fracking). Increasing number of studies have shown that fracking has significant potential to impact health and non-health outcomes. However, because of its rapid development, there is a lack of substantive research related to the public health effects of fracking. I discuss my firsthand experiences as a medical anthropologist and public health researcher on a multi-disciplinary research team tasked with conducting Maryland’s first health impact assessment to determine the potential public health impacts associated with fracking. I focus on how fracking, as a relatively new economically viable source of energy and an emergent focus of study, brings about public and scientific anxieties, and how these anxieties shape subsequent environmental and health policy decision making processes. I reflect on the potential role of social scientists in matters of scientific knowledge production and resulting policy decisions and the broader implications of such engagement for public social science.

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We examine ‘fracking’ for shale gas extraction in England, France, and Algeria, framed from the perspective of level of acceptance by communities and general public. We explore the extent to which public participation in decision-making should play a role in fracking regulation, and evaluate whether the level of public participation matches the legal requirements. Our position on the adequacy of fracking regulation is from the perspective of the public dissenter, outlining a legal and normative basis for public participation in decision-making on fracking. We highlight relevant laws and policies to understand and evaluate adequacy of relevant regulatory processes. We offer strong yet nuanced argumentation, creating space for further discussion by academics, the public, regulators, local decision-makers, fracking companies and others. This is not a typical social-psychology, legal, sociology, or human geography research paper, as we take a position from the beginning: that the public ought to be involved in decisions related to the regulation of fracking, and argue that we validate our approach by supporting our claims throughout the work.

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Over the past decade, the U.S. has had significant growth in oil and gas production due in large part to hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"); and yet, we know little about public preferences for oil and gas regulations. Political identity is a strong predictor of policy support in other arenas. The purpose of this analysis is to clarify the role of political identity in support for oil and gas policy. We hypothesized that political identity has a direct impact on policy support and an indirect impact via risk/benefit perceptions and trust in the oil and gas industry. Using the KHB mediation technique, we show that about half of the impact of political identity is indirect via these mediating variables. We suggest that political identity is a uniquely important factor in environmental governance because it impacts both policy preferences and other variables that, in turn, also explain policy preferences. Political identity appears to be salient, even for local governance controversies.

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This paper situates the question of shale gas mining in South Africa within broader debates on policy co-ordination within governmental systems. The prospect of shale gas mining has posed severe challenges for the complex inter-governmental system in South Africa. Three key Departments are affected by possible shale gas mining: Mineral Resources, Environmental Affairs and Water Resources. Each of these Departments have different relationships with the provincial and municipal "spheres of government". The Department of Mineral Resources has attempted to promote shale gas mining with no reference to municipalities, whereas the other two Departments have attempted to build up municipal capacity. Municipalities have key functions which are protected in the Constitution. However, many municipalities are weak institutions, unwilling to defend their powers. The paper examines Municipal Integrated Development Plans in the potential shale gas region. Most municipalities seem to have no awareness at all of the shale gas issue. Recently, a High Court ruled that any shale gas mining regulations must be made by the Department of Environmental Affairs. With its more decentralist approach to governance, it will mean that municipalities will have more opportunities to participate in shale gas mining decisions.

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Over the past two decades, the U.S. energy sector has undergone significant transition. Coal— historically the primary power source for the U.S. economy—has declined markedly in both production and consumption. Renewables like wind and solar have become much more economically viable in recent years. However, perhaps the most dramatic change has been the drastic increase in oil and gas production since the mid-2000s, due largely to the convergence of unconventional technologies like hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling. The changing energy system presents both opportunities and challenges for local governments, especially those in rural areas that face unique fiscal struggles. In this paper, we present results of a survey of local policy actors in the Mountain West states of Colorado and Utah. Policy actors assessed the fiscal and public service impacts of different types of energy development and we tie these survey responses to spatial energy development data. Results imply that policy actors have nuanced views of all types of energy, though fossil fuels (especially coal) are generally seen as more fiscally beneficial than renewables. Generally, the spatial proximity of a type of energy development has only a weak relationship with perceived fiscal and public service costs and benefits.

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Resulting from a booming shale-energy sector, from 2007 to 2014, income per capita in North Dakota increased 40%. Does this reflect the experience of a few oil-rich counties, or were the gains more evenly distributed across the region? We find the shale boom generated significant economic gains for counties above and near the Bakken Shale Formation, but not for those farther away. We also document significant state-border effects, which are not easily explained. Conditional on distance to the Bakken region, the shale boom generated limited outward migration from South Dakota, and as a result, the economic gains that accrued there were muted.

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It's been just over a decade since Unconventional Oil and Gas development began in earnest in the Marcellus Shale, a dense shale formation that, along with the deeper and larger Utica Shale, covers much of the mid-Atlantic United States. Since January 2008, approximately 15,939 wells have been drilled and fracked at 5674 sites across these shales. This decennial documents the pace, scale, and stages of actual development and takes stock of the social science on impacts to communities, people, policies, and culture. We have divided this article into the following sections that are categorized both geographically and thematically: Pennsylvania: Heart of the Marcellus Shale Play, focuses on the plethora of social science research that has occurred on impacts to Pennsylvania communities, health, economics, and agricultural production; West Virginia and Ohio: Legacies of Extraction discusses research on the overlapping historical legacies of extractive industries in the region and details results of original research examining perceived impacts to residents amid complex historical natural resource lineages; and New York: Fracking, Culture and Politics examines how the regulatory process to develop the Marcellus Shale affected both the state and nation's culture, politics, and policy as one of the most densely populated regions of the US came to grips with hosting the modern-day Oil and Gas Industry. We conclude with a discussion of emerging research opportunities and directions as a new generation of social scientists document future development in the Marcellus and Utica Shales.

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Public opposition to fracking is one of numerous movements expressing concern about health or environmental risks of a (usually) new technology. These have at their core an esoteric dispute between technical experts, but laypeople also become actively involved, usually as volunteers. They may live close to pertinent sites, motivated by fears for their families and property, or they may be people living farther away, attracted to the opposition for ideological reasons. (Opposition to fracking is a politically liberal position.) Activism is increasingly motivated when the issue is “hot” and diminishes when it cools down. According to Quantity of Coverage Theory (QCT), the “hotness” of an issue – therefore the degree of activism -- largely depends on its presence in the mass media. The American anti-fracking movement arose fairly quickly around 2010–11. News coverage peaked during 2012–14 and is now diminishing. Similar peaks and declines are observed in British and German news media, consistent with the power of central American media to influence news coverage in other industrial nations. Inferentially, from declining news coverage, the anti-fracking movement is waning, perhaps dying. Lacking direct measures of activism, QCT provides a lens through which to see the rise and fall of the movement.

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The development of cost-effective technologies, along with high crude oil and natural gas prices, accelerated shale oil and gas extraction in the United States in the early 2000s. We explore the schooling response to this boom, taking advantage of timing and spatial variation in well-drilling activities. We show that intensive drilling activities decreased grade 11 and 12 enrollment over the 14-year study period—41,760 fewer students enrolled per year across the 15 states considered in this analysis (95% C.I.: 12,685 to 71,567). We investigate heterogeneous effects and show that the effect was larger in states with a younger compulsory schooling age (16 years of age instead of 17 or 18), in states with a lower effective tax rate on oil and gas production, and in non-metro counties with traditional mining or persistent poverty.

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In this introduction to the special issue on ‘social aspects of unconventional hydrocarbon development globally’ I explain the unique contributions made by the 26 research articles contained herein. Following a discussion of why additional research on social aspects of unconventional hydrocarbon development is still useful and relevant, I concisely describe ten major themes that emerged across the range of articles presented in this issue: (1) substantial regional differences in public reactions, perceptions, and policy, (2) context dependence, (3) role of experience with prior extraction, (4) critiques of policy and regulation, (5) procedural justice deficits, (6) distributive justice issues, (7) engagement and response from industry and government, (8) characterisation of opposition and activism, (9) interaction between actors internationally, and (10) a need for a long-term view. I conclude with my thoughts on the most promising areas for future research, including longitudinal research, comparisons across less developed and more developed nations, investigations of relationships between actors from different countries, and further examination of energy justice, specifically in relation to public representation in decision making processes.

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Communities respond to unconventional gas in a variety of ways. In some communities, industry has held a social license, while in other areas, industrial development has been slowed, halted, or prevented by social resistance. Repeatedly, across multiple nations and communities, we have observed that social identities that either incorporate or eschew activism intersect with perceptions of this development’s effect on place identity to either foster or discourage opposition. Particularly interesting are cases in which fracking is perceived to threaten local place identity, but where activism conflicts with social identity. To mobilise different sectors of the population, it often appears important for local residents to be perceived as ‘regular citizens’ and not as activists. We explore how intersection of social identities and place identity shaped the different ways in which communities in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United States have responded to unconventional gas development. Communities resisting development often see ‘activism’ as something that ‘outsiders’ do and that must be rejected as insufficiently objective and neutral. This view of activism and activists produces specific forms of resistance that differ from typical ‘activist’ actions, in which ‘knowledge’, ‘information’, neutrality, and objectivity are particularly important.

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This paper provides an overview of unconventional gas developments in Australia and attendant public reactions to them through the lens of the ‘social license’ concept. An analysis of some of the relevant academic literature offers insights into how social license is understood, conceptualised and operationalised across Australian states and territories, surveying a variety of approaches to understand social and health impacts of developments; perceptions of developments, including their perceived legitimacy; and regulatory influences. Case examples from across Australia highlight the importance of procedural justice in industry-community conflict situations and the heterogeneity of social license outcomes. These insights suggest that social infrastructure can play an important role in social license negotiations. Further research priorities into the social dimensions of unconventional gas development are identified in the areas of cumulative health and social impacts; governance (and social license) implications in relation to resources; place and people; and better understanding social license in the context of other States and local contexts, specifically Australia’s First Nations. Both the ways in which a social license evolves over space and time, and how community concerns are responded to by industry and decision makers in different contexts, raises questions for further inquiry, specifically in relation to power asymmetries between industry, government and communities.

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Exploration applications that could lead to unconventional gas exploitation in large parts of South Africa have encountered sustained opposition by social movements. This article looks into Frack Free South Africa's (FFSA) challenges to the government-supported development strategy of shale gas as a supposed means to create jobs and ensure energy autonomy. Adding to discussions in social movement scholarship this article contributes by exploring political, spatial and organizational opportunities afforded by FFSA's activist campaign. The article concludes that in order to grow the movement needs to embrace more inclusive campaign strategies.

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Public resistance to shale gas in the Netherlands came as a surprise to governing actors. The Netherlands was a ‘gas land’ and shale gas extraction had been successfully framed as ‘business as usual’. However, in the eyes of the general public it turned into a ‘risky business’, and national government had to adjust their risk governance strategies. This study of the dynamics between national government’s risk governance strategies, framing, and societal responses, shows that this wicked problem could not be managed by authoritative risk governance strategies, nor by collaborative risk governance strategies. Rather, these strategies added fuel to the fire, and resistance increased. The results indicate that all sorts of risk governance strategies, but especially collaborative risk governance strategies, should better take into account the normative dimensions of a conflict, and reflect on who is the legitimate actor to govern the issue. This ‘controversy governance’ includes the possibility to discuss the desirability and necessity of mining activities, and a reflection on who is a legitimate decision maker on a wicked problem.

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The Eagle Ford and Bakken shale oil plays in the United States (US) have experienced dramatic production increases since 2010, with implications for their communities in Texas and North Dakota (and to a lesser extent, Montana). In both cases, production increased from insignificant or low levels to about a quarter of US production each over five years, largely due to prices and the availability of modern horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques. This comparative case study of the Eagle Ford and Bakken regions focuses on the effects of these rapid changes on communities. Overall, this work finds that dynamics associated with strained infrastructure followed patterns similar to those seen in other modern US boom regions. Bakken participants perceived impacts as more severe than Eagle Ford participants, potentially due to greater isolation and limitations associated with extreme winter conditions. In both regions, anticipation of a bust affected behavior in a manner not commonly observed in regions where prior boom/bust cycles do not exist in living memory. Both Bakken and Eagle Ford participants described an idealized future where long-term shale-related prosperity could stabilize their communities, despite an understanding that this was an unlikely outcome.