Israel Opinion Blog: Variation of public discourse about the impacts of fracking with geographic scale and proximity to proposed development

israelob.blogspot.com

Abstract

Public response to energy projects affects the emergence of new technologies and the distribution of their risks and benefits. Here we use thousands of individually authored comments submitted during a regulatory review of unconventional shale gas development in New York State to reconcile previous, inconsistent results about the relationship between proximity and opposition to energy projects. We find that members of the public opposed unconventional shale gas development for different reasons, which varied systematically with proximity to unconventional gas wells. Public discourse in proximate communities was diverse, invoking environmental, social, economic and political impacts, and was anchored by concerns specific to a particular place. By contrast, a few nationally salient environmental concerns dominated public discourse in communities farther from development. Our results demonstrate that public response reflects the mobilization of alternative constituencies with unique understandings of the issue. Distinguishing among these is critical for understanding the nature of public response.

Access options

Rent or Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

from$8.99

Rent or Buy

All prices are NET prices.

**Fig. 1: Geographic distribution of individually authored public comments by county.**

**Fig. 2: Average topic proportions for the 21 topics related to concerns about and/or impacts from USGD.**

**Fig. 3: Differences in topic proportion by Marcellus status.**

**Fig. 4: Relationship between county-level discourse diversity and distance to the nearest HVHF well application.**

**Fig. 5: Geographic dispersion of expressed concern as measured by weighted standard distance.**

**Fig. 6: The concerns most commonly expressed in each county.**

Data availability

The original public comments data are part of the public record and available freely from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation through a public records request (https://www.dec.ny.gov/public/373.html). Because the full records include personally identifiable information (names, addresses and emails), they are not shared in a public repository by the author. Comment data that exclude personal identifiers are, however, available from the author upon reasonable request for replication and research purposes. Also, processed datasets, which allow the replication of the statistical analyses but exclude the raw comment data, are available online at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/XHSVTN.

Code availability

R code for replicating all statistical analyses can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/XHSVTN.

References

1.
Boudet, H. S. Public perceptions of and responses to new energy technologies. Nat. Energy 4, 446–455 (2019).

Article Google Scholar
2.
Boudet, H. et al. ‘Fracking’ controversy and communication: using national survey data to understand public perceptions of hydraulic fracturing. Energy Policy 65, 57–67 (2014).

Article Google Scholar
3.
Brasier, K. J. et al. ‘Residents’ perceptions of community and environmental impacts from development of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale: a comparison of Pennsylvania and New York cases. J. Rural Soc. Sci. 26, 32–61 (2011).

Google Scholar
4.
Davis, C. & Jonathan, M. F. Energy abundance or environmental worries? Analyzing public support for fracking in the United States. Rev. Policy Res. 31, 1–16 (2014).

Article Google Scholar
5.
Jackson, R. B. et al. The environmental costs and benefits of fracking. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 39, 327–362 (2014).

Article Google Scholar
6.
Neville, K. J. et al. Debating unconventional energy: social, political, and economic implications. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 42, 241–266 (2017).

Article Google Scholar
7.
Ellis, C., Gene, L. T., Petrzelka, P., Jackson-Smith, D. & Luloff, A. E. Unconventional risks: the experience of acute energy development in the Eagle Ford Shale. Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 20, 91–98 (2016).

Article Google Scholar
8.
Jacquet, J. Review of risks to communities from shale energy development. Environ. Sci. Technol. 48, 8321–8333 (2014).

Article Google Scholar
9.
Thomas, M., Partridge, T., Harthorn, B. H. & Pidgeon, N. Deliberating the perceived risks, benefits, and societal implications of shale gas and oil extraction by hydraulic fracturing in the US and UK. Nat. Energy 2, 17054 (2017).

Article Google Scholar
10.
Alcorn, J., Rupp, J. & Graham, J. D. Attitudes toward “fracking”: perceived and actual geographic proximity. Rev. Policy Res. 34, 504–536 (2017).

Article Google Scholar
11.
Boudet, H., Zanocco, C. M., Howe, P. D. & Clarke, C. The effect of proximity to unconventionl oil and gas development on public support for hydraulic fracturing. Risk Anal. 38, 1871–1890 (2018).

Article Google Scholar
12.
Clarke, C. E. et al. How geographic distance and political ideology interact to influence public perception of unconventional oil/natural gas development. Energy Policy 97, 301–309 (2016).

Article Google Scholar
13.
Gravelle, T. B. & Lachapelle, E. Politics, proximity and the pipeline: mapping public attitudes toward Keystone XL. Energy Policy 83, 99–108 (2015).

Article Google Scholar
14.
Junod, A. N., Jeffrey, B. J., Fernando, F. & Flage, L. Life in the Goldilocks Zone: perceptions of place disruption on the periphery of the Bakken Shale. Soc. Nat. Resour. 31, 200–217 (2018).

Article Google Scholar
15.
Konisky, D. M., Ansolabehere, S. & Carley, S. Proximity, NIMBYism, and public support for energy infrastructure. Public Opin. Q. 82, 391–418 (2020).

Google Scholar
16.
Chad, Z., Boudet, H., Clarke, C. E. & Howe, P. D. Spatial discontinuities in support for hydraulic fracturing: searching for a “Goldilocks Zone”. Soc. Nat. Resour. 32, 1065–1072 (2019).

Article Google Scholar
17.
Esaiasson, P. NIMBYism—a re-examination of the phenomenon. Soc. Sci. Res. 48, 185–195 (2014).

Article Google Scholar
18.
Krause, R. M. et al. Not in (or under) my backyard: geographic proximity and public acceptance of carbon capture storage faclities. Risk Anal. 34, 529–540 (2014).

Article Google Scholar
19.
Swofford, J. & Slattery, M. Public attitudes of win energy in Texas: local communities in close proximity to wind farms and their effect on decision-making. Energy Policy 38, 2509–2519 (2010).

Article Google Scholar
20.
Jenkins-Smith, H. C., Carol, L. S., Nowlin, M. C. & deLozier, G. Reversing nuclear opposition: evolving public acceptance of a permanent nuclear waste disposal facility. Risk Anal. 31, 629–644 (2011).

Article Google Scholar
21.
Kristy, M., Carlisle, J. & Smith, E. Nimbyism vs. environmentalism in attitudes toward energy development. Environ. Politics 17, 20–39 (2008).

Article Google Scholar
22.
Batel, S. & Devine-Wright, P. Towards a better understanding of people’s responses to renewable energy technologies: insights from social representations theory. Public Underst. Sci. 24, 311–325 (2015).

Article Google Scholar
23.
Geraint, E., Barry, J. & Robinson, C. Many ways to say ‘no’, different ways to say ‘yes’: applying Q-Methodology to understand public acceptance of wind farm proposals. J. Environ. Plan. Manag. 50, 517–551 (2007).

Article Google Scholar
24.
Evensen, D. & Richard, C. S. Scale matters: variation in perceptions of shale gas development across national, state, and local levels. Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 20, 14–21 (2016).

Article Google Scholar
25.
Benford, R. D. & David, A. S. Framing processes and social movements: an overview and assessment. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 26, 611–639 (2000).

Article Google Scholar
26.
Chong, D. & James, N. D. Framing theory. Annu. Rev. Political Sci. 10, 103–126 (2007).

Article Google Scholar
27.
Moscovici, S. Social Representations: Explorations in Social Psychology (New York Univ. Press, 2001).
28.
Bugden, D., Evensen, D. & Stedman, R. A drill by any other name: social representations, framing, and legacies of natural resource extraction in the fracking industry. Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 29, 62–71 (2017).

Article Google Scholar
29.
Devine-Wright, P. Rethinking NIMBYism: the role of place attachment and place identity in explaining place-protective action. J. Community Appl. Soc. Psychol. 19, 426–441 (2009).
30.
Evensen, D., Clarke, C. & Stedman, R. A New York or Pennylvania state of mind: social representations in newspaper coverage of gas development in the Marcellus Shale. J. Environ. Stud. Sci. 4, 65–77 (2014).

Article Google Scholar
31.
Schafft, K. A., Borlu, Y. & Glenna, L. The relationship between Marcellus Shale gas development in Pennsylvania and local perceptions of risk and opportunity. Rural Sociol. 78, 143–166 (2013).

Article Google Scholar
32.
Gamson, W. A. Talking Politics (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1992).
33.
McAdam, D. & Boudet, H. Putting Social Movements in their Place: Explaining Opposition to Energy Projects in the United States, 2000–2005 (Cambridge Univ.Press, 2012).

Book Google Scholar
34.
Ashmoore, O., Evensen, D., Clarke, C., Krakower, J. & Simon, J. Regional newspaper coverage of shale gas development across Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania: similarities, differences, and lessons. Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 11, 119–132 (2016).

Article Google Scholar
35.
Arnold, G., Farrer, B. & Holahan, R. How do landowners learn about high-volume hydraulic fracturing? A survey of eastern Ohio landowners in active or proposed drilling units. Energy Policy 114, 455–464 (2018).

Article Google Scholar
36.
Farrell, J. The Battle for Yellowstone: Morality and the Sacred Roots of Environmental Conflict (Princeton Univ. Press, 2015).

Book Google Scholar
37.
Bell, S. E. Fighting King Coal: the Challenges to Micromobilization in Central Appalachia (MIT Press, 2016).
38.
Kojola, E. Who speaks for the place? Cultural dynamics of conflicts over hazardous industrial development. Sociol. Forum 35, 673–695 (2020).

Article Google Scholar
39.
Lawlor, A. & Timothy, B. Framing trans-border energy transportation: the case of Keystone XL. Environ. Politics 27, 666–685 (2018).

Article Google Scholar
40.
Freudenburg, W. R. & Grambling, R. Oil in Troubled Waters: Perceptions, Politics, and the Battle over Offshore Oil (State Univ. of New York Press, 1994).

Google Scholar
41.
Evensen, D., Jeffrey, B. J., Clarke, C. E. & Stedman, R. C. What’s the ‘fracking’ problem? One word can’t say it all. Extr. Ind. Soc. 1, 130–136 (2014).

Google Scholar
42.
Farrell, J. Corporate funding and ideological polarization about climate change. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, 92–97 (2016).

Article Google Scholar
43.
Perrin, A. J. & McFarland, K. Social theory and public opinion. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 37, 87–107 (2011).

Article Google Scholar
44.
Mazur, A. How did the fracking controversy emerge in the period 2010-2012? Public Underst. Sci. 25, 207–222 (2016).

Article Google Scholar
45.
Wilber, T. Under the Surface: Fracking Fortunes and the Fate of the Marcellus Shale (Cornell Univ. Press, 2012).

Google Scholar
46.
Blei, D. M. Probabilistic topic models. Commun. ACM 55, 77–84 (2012).

Article Google Scholar
47.
Vasi, I. B., Walker, E., Johnson, J. & Tan, H. F. “No fracking way!” Documentary film, discursive opportunity, and local opposition against hydraulic fracturing in the United States, 2010 to 2013. Am. Sociol. Rev. 80, 934–959 (2015).

Article Google Scholar
48.
Cunningham, S. The story of an emerging energy issue: national television news coverage of fracking in the United States. Environ. Commun. 13, 804–819 (2019).

Article Google Scholar
49.
Hammer, R., Levine, L. & Van Briesen, J. In Fracking’s Wake: New Rules are Needed to Protect Our Health and Environment from Contaminated Wastewater. Report no. D:12-05-A (Natural Resources Defense Council, 2012).https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/Fracking-Wastewater-FullReport.pdf
50.
Dokshin, F. A. Whose backyard and what’s at issue? Spatial and ideological dynamics of local opposition to hydraulic fracturing in New York, 2010 to 2013. Am. Sociol. Rev. 81, 921–948 (2016).

Article Google Scholar
51.
Kraft, M. C. & Clary, B. B. Citizen participation and the NIMBY syndrome. West. Political Q. 44, 299–328 (1991).

Article Google Scholar
52.
Dokshin, F. A. NIMBYs and partisans: how material interests and partisanship shape public response to shale gas development. Environ. Politics 29, 390–413 (2020).

Article Google Scholar
53.
Grimmer, J. & Brandon, M. S. Text as data: the promise and pitfalls of automatic content analysis methods for political texts. Political Anal. 21, 267–297 (2013).

Article Google Scholar
54.
Roberts, M. E. et al. Structural topic models for open-ended survey responses. Am. J. Political Sci. 58, 1064–1082 (2014).

Article Google Scholar
55.
Boyd-Graber, J., Mimno, D. & Newman, D. in Handbook of Mixed Membership Models and Their Applications (eds Airoldi, E. M., Blei, D., Erosheva, E. A. & Fienberg, S. E.) Ch. 12 (CRC Press, 2014).
56.
DiMaggio, P., Nag, M. & Blei, D. Exploiting affinities between topic modeling and the sociological perspective on culture: application to newspaper coverage of US government arts funding. Poetics 41, 570–606 (2013).

Article Google Scholar
57.
Sievert, C. & Shirley, K. in Proceedings of the Workshop on Interactive Language Learning, Visualization, and Interfaces (eds Chuang, J., Green, S., Hearst, M., Heer, J., Koehn P.) 63–70 (Association for Computational Linguistics, 2014).
58.
Engelder, T. Marcellus 2008: report card on the breakout year for gas production in Appalachian Basin. Fort Worth Basin Oil and Gas Magazine 19–22 (2009).
59.
Munger, K., Bonneau, R., Nagler, J. & Tucker, J. A. Elites tweet to get feet off the streets: measuring regime social media strategies during protest. Political Sci. Res. Methods 7, 815–834 (2019).

Article Google Scholar

Download references

Acknowledgements

I thank D. Bugden, A. Eads and S. Hazboun for valuable comments. I gratefully acknowledge support for this study from the National Science Foundation (award no. SES-161602248).

Author information

Affiliations

Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Fedor A. Dokshin

Authors

Fedor A. Dokshin

View author publications

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

F.A.D. designed and performed the research, analysed the data and wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fedor A. Dokshin.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Nature Energy thanks Hilary Boudet, Darrick Evensen and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Notes 1–3, figures and tables.

Reporting Summary

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dokshin, F.A. Variation of public discourse about the impacts of fracking with geographic scale and proximity to proposed development. Nat Energy (2021). https://ift.tt/3tENpWE

Download citation

Received: 23 August 2019
Accepted: 16 July 2021
Published: 13 September 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00886-7

Adblock test (Why?)

"discourse" - Google News
September 13, 2021 at 10:06PM
https://ift.tt/3nsvl0E

Variation of public discourse about the impacts of fracking with geographic scale and proximity to proposed development - Nature.com
"discourse" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KZL2bm
https://ift.tt/2z7DUH4

Israel Opinion Blog

Rechercher dans ce blog

Monday, September 13, 2021

Variation of public discourse about the impacts of fracking with geographic scale and proximity to proposed development - Nature.com