Search

Abstract: 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of natural gas extraction known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a controversial energy acquisition technique often viewed with disdain by the public, due to its potential for environmental harm. However, the mental health and psychological well-being of fracking communities, including potential benefits and detriments, are often overlooked. We reviewed the literature on the association between fracking and psychological functioning, finding that although persons living in fracking communities may experience some minimal, initial benefits such as land lease income or infrastructure development, they may also experience worry, anxiety, and depression about lifestyle, health, safety, and financial security, as well as exposure to neurotoxins and changes to the physical landscape. Indeed, entire communities can experience collective trauma as a result of the “boom/bust” cycle that often occurs when industries impinge on community life. Impacted communities are often already vulnerable, including poor, rural, or indigenous persons, who may continue to experience the deleterious effects of fracking for generations. An influx of workers to fracking communities often stokes fears about outsiders and crime; yet, it must be recognized that this population of mobile workers is also vulnerable, often ostracized, and without social support. Practitioners, researchers, and policy makers alike should continue to investigate the potential psychological ramifications of fracking, so that effective and targeted intervention strategies can be developed, disseminated, and implemented to improve mental health in fracking communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a new way to make sense of disagreement expansion from a polylogical perspective by incorporating various places (venues) in addition to players (parties) and positions (standpoints) into the analysis. The concepts build on prior implicit ideas about disagreement space by suggesting how to more fully account for argumentative context, and its construction, in large-scale complex controversies. As a basis for our polylogical analysis, we use a New York Times news story reporting on an oil train explosion-a significant point in the broader controversy over producing oil and gas via hydraulic fracturing (fracking). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prospect of fracking in the United Kingdom has been accompanied by significant public unease. We outline how the policy debate is being framed by UK institutional actors, finding evidence of a dominant discourse in which the policy approach is defined through a deficit model of public understanding of science and in which a technical approach to feasibility and safety is deemed as sufficient grounds for good policymaking. Deploying a deliberative focus group methodology with lay publics across different sites in the north of England, we find that these institutional framings are poorly aligned with participants’ responses. We find that unease regularly overflows the focus on safety and feasibility and cannot be satisfactorily explained by a lack of understanding on the part of participants. We find that scholarship from science and technology studies productively elucidates our participants’ largely sceptical positions, and orientates strategies for responding to them more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-volume hydraulic fracturing, a drilling simulation technique commonly referred to as “fracking,” is a contested technology. In this article, we explore discourse over hydraulic fracturing and the shale industry on the social media platform Twitter during a period of heightened public contention regarding the application of the technology. We study the relative prominence of negative messaging about shale development in relation to pro-shale messaging on Twitter across five hashtags (#fracking, #globalfrackdown, #natgas, #shale, and #shalegas). We analyze the top actors tweeting using the #fracking hashtag and receiving @mentions with the hashtag. Results show statistically significant differences in the sentiment about hydraulic fracturing and shale development across the five hashtags. In addition, results show that the discourse on the main contested hashtag #fracking is dominated by activists, both individual activists and organizations. The highest proportion of tweeters, those posting messages using the hashtag #fracking, were individual activists, while the highest proportion of @mention references went to activist organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What drives local decisions to prohibit industrial land uses? This study examines the passage of municipal ordinances prohibiting gas development using hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in New York State. I argue that local action against fracking depended on multiple conceptions of the shale gas industry. Matching these alternative conceptions with prevailing spatial models of public response to industrial land uses—“not in my backyard,” “not in anyone’s backyard,” and “please in my backyard”—improves our understanding of where local contention might emerge and how it contributes to policy change. Results from event history and logistic regression analyses show, first, that communities lying above favorable areas of the shale did not pass anti-fracking laws because opposition to fracking was counteracted by significant local support for development. Fracking bans passed primarily in a geographic sweet spot on the periphery of targeted regions, where little or no compelling economic interest in development existed. Second, as fracking became the subject of a highly politicized national debate, local opposition increasingly reflected mobilization by political liberals. This trend is reflected in the increasing rate of ordinance adoption among Democratic-leaning communities outside the geographic sweet spot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an analysis of public attitudes toward fracking use and policies with an eye toward factors that help us account for differing levels of support. Using data from a national survey of American adults, we found that women and people residing in urban areas are slightly more inclined to oppose fracking and to favor more regulation in terms of drilling operations and company chemical disclosure requirements than men or people living in rural areas. Our key findings, however, are that opposition to fracking and support for current or increased levels of regulation are strongly related to Democratic Party identification and to pro-environmental policy attitudes. We conclude by suggesting that a tendency for people to view fracking as an environmental rather than an energy issue has potentially important implications for the implementation of locally based regulatory requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses on the Williston, North Dakota, which has become one of the fastest growing U.S. cities due to fracking which refers to the hydraulic fracturing of shale to recover natural gas, as of 2013. The topics discussed include back ground on hydraulic fracking, North Dakota's state oil tax revenue fund called North Dakota Legacy Fund and requirement of schooling infrastructure for the town. Also discussed is Williston's traffic and road congestion problem.

This study examines the environmental, social, and economic impacts that landowners perceive from the simultaneous development of an industrial-scale wind farm and extensive natural gas drilling in an area of northern Pennsylvania. A mail survey ( N = 1,028) reveals that the types of perceived impact from wind and natural gas are similar overall, although the perceived magnitude of positive and negative impacts is greater from natural gas drilling. Impact perception was found to explain a large portion of residents' overall attitudes toward the energy developments, and residents' place meanings for the area also explain some attitudinal variation. Additionally, factors such as place attachment and length and type of residency were found to have little or no effect on either the perception of impact or resident attitudes toward development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on hydraulic fracturing in the United States. While promoted as more environmentally responsible, methane leaks from fracking still pose an issue. Issues are examined from a feminist perspective. Topics mentioned include the process of slick water, high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing, the environmental effects of fracking fluid, and the resulting social conflict from the debate in the USA.

Hopke and Simis (Public Understanding of Science, online 4 October 2015) find that #fracking, the most popular of five shale-related hashtags analyzed from a 2013 period, is associated with pro-shale attitudes only 13% of the time and note that the dominant voice of the activist community, coupled with a lack of engagement from industry, is unexpected. This comment offers additional perspective on the sentiment- and actor-skewed result by noting that the term “fracking” is highly political, specifically because the spelling “frack” versus “frac” is associated with activism. Furthermore, in public speech, the industry tends to deemphasize the hydraulic fracturing process in favor of the product, consistent with the findings that #natgas is a relatively pro-industry hashtag. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's view on guar beans and fracking worldwide. She mentions North Dakota billionaire Harold Hamm and his promotion of horizontal drilling in combination with hydraulic fracturing. She also notes the reliance of the shale oil and natural gas industry on the green bean which prevent the frac-sand from falling to the bottom of its well.

The article discusses the issue extreme policing against anti-fracking protesters who campaign against the ills and risks of fracking. The police is known for violently arresting those who stand for the cause including children, elderly and pregnant women. Topics discussed include the Salford, North West Enland protests, abuse of police power and accountability among the police officers.

The article presents world news briefs on topics including the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows circus company's plan to retire their 43 performing elephants by 2018, as well as several anti-hydraulic fracturing (fracking) protests involving environmental and indigenous groups across Canada. It states that nations such as Chile and Brazil increased their solar energy production rates in 2014. Global vegetation has expanded due to tree planting in China and forest growth.

A reprint of the article "Frack Gag’ Bans Children From Talking About Fracking, Forever,” by Andrew Breiner, which appeared on the American political blog "Think Progress's" website on August 2, 2013, located at ThinkProgress.org.