A Field Philosopher's Guide to Fracking: How One Texas Town Stood Up to Big Oil and Gas

by Adam Briggle

Overview

Winner of the Writers' League of Texas Book Awards
Finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize

From the front lines of the fracking debate, a “field philosopher” explores one of our most divisive technologies.

When philosophy professor Adam Briggle moved to Denton, Texas, he had never heard of fracking. Only five years later he would successfully lead a citizens' initiative to ban hydraulic fracturing in Denton—the first Texas town to challenge the oil and gas industry. On his journey to learn about fracking and its effects, he leaped from the ivory tower into the fray.

In beautifully narrated chapters, Briggle brings us to town hall debates and neighborhood meetings where citizens wrestle with issues few fully understand. Is fracking safe? How does it affect the local economy? Why are bakeries prohibited in neighborhoods while gas wells are permitted next to playgrounds? In his quest for answers Briggle meets people like Cathy McMullen. Her neighbors’ cows asphyxiated after drinking fracking fluids, and her orchard was razed to make way for a pipeline. Cathy did not consent to drilling, but those who profited lived far out of harm’s way.

Briggle's first instinct was to think about fracking—deeply. Drawing on philosophers from Socrates to Kant, but also on conversations with engineers, legislators, and industry representatives, he develops a simple theory to evaluate fracking: we should give those at risk to harm a stake in the decisions we make, and we should monitor for and correct any problems that arise. Finding this regulatory process short-circuited, with government and industry alike turning a blind eye to symptoms like earthquakes and nosebleeds, Briggle decides to take action.

Though our field philosopher is initially out of his element—joining fierce activists like "Texas Sharon," once called the "worst enemy" of the oil and gas industry—his story culminates in an underdog victory for Denton, now nationally recognized as a beacon for citizens' rights at the epicenter of the fracking revolution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631490088
Publisher:	Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publication date:	10/01/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Adam Briggle teaches philosophy at the University of North Texas in Denton, where he also serves on a citizens' advisory group. He contributes to Slate, Truthout, and other publications. His work and the Denton story have been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, BBC, NPR, Washington Post, and Newsweek.

Editorial Reviews

A Field Philosopher's Guide to Fracking represents Briggle's impressive effort to match the scope of thought to the scope of the "real-world experiment" suddenly being conducted close to playgrounds and neighborhoods. Much of his book stays in the muddy median of the fracking debate, resisting simplification, considering both the bane and the boon of drilling. Because of fracking, Texas has surpassed Iraq as an oil producer; water wells are contaminated, but gas prices are down; earthquakes are up, but so is employment; and energy independence seems almost possible. Briggle adroitly explores both the conflict without and the conflict within—between doubt and certainty, philosophy and activism.

The New York Times Book Review - Amy Leach

08/03/2015
Briggle, a philosophy professor at the University of North Texas, had never heard of fracking until he moved to Denton, Tex., in 2009. But he soon learned that there are 250 gas wells in Denton alone, “that fracking had sparked a global energy revolution,” and that it had become a “contentious political issue.” In this blunt yet hopeful chronology, Briggle confers with scientists, engineers, policy makers, and fellow citizens to gain a broad overview of fracking. Known technically as hydraulic fracturing, the process involves blasting rock formations with sand, water, and chemicals in order to extract oil and gas. Briggle details its negative effects on the environment and the health risks it poses to surrounding communities. He works on a grassroots level as well to ban fracking in Denton itself, helping to establish the Denton Stakeholder Drilling Advisory Group, whose campaign efforts and accomplishments form a chunk of the narrative. And because positions on fracking don’t neatly map onto traditional American political notions of left and right, Briggle delineates the competing worldviews of those he dubs “precautionaries” and “proactionaries.” Briggle’s philosophical framing of the conversation sets his work apart and helps provide further insight on this divisive topic. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"As extreme energy extraction moves next to backyards and playgrounds, where do we draw the line between reasonable risk and recklessness? You owe it to your children and your grandchildren to read this book."

Helen Slottje

"Briggle beautifully captures how the mad rush to drill and frack this country has led to one of the fastest-growing grassroots movements in American history. When we finally ban fracking across the world, it will be because strong communities like Denton, Texas, showed us the way."

Josh Fox

"This rousing account of a great people's victory is also the occasion for some real reflection about the mad push forward now degrading the planet in deep and desperate ways."

Bill McKibben

"Through the story of Denton and his theory of innovation, Briggle shows us how the Texas government is a subsidiary of oil and gas corporate interests, not a government 'of, by, or for the people.'"

Lon Burnham

"Ambitious…. Briggle excels in the abstract. His ability to apply philosophic treatises from Socrates to Hobbes to Kant to the dilemma of the oil and gas boom sweeping this country is admirable…. [He] is lucid in describing a system that by anyone’s analysis favors the rights of those who own the oil and gas beneath the ground over those who live atop it."

Dallas Morning News - James Osborne

"Briggle offers a compelling look at the environmental issues and a broader look at citizen engagement in ethics and social policy."

Booklist - Vanessa Bush

Briggle offers a compelling look at the environmental issues and a broader look at citizen engagement in ethics and social policy.

Vanessa Bush - Booklist

Ambitious…. Briggle excels in the abstract. His ability to apply philosophic treatises from Socrates to Hobbes to Kant to the dilemma of the oil and gas boom sweeping this country is admirable…. [He] is lucid in describing a system that by anyone’s analysis favors the rights of those who own the oil and gas beneath the ground over those who live atop it.

James Osborne - Dallas Morning News

★ 2015-05-26
Out of the university and into the streets, Briggle (Philosophy/Univ. of North Texas) brings the practice of "field philosophy" to the question of whether fracking is feckless or feasible. The author seeks to demonstrate that philosophical practice can be socially engaged and practical. The rush of technology is a case in point. We usually take the technological wager, "gambling on the success of future innovations to bail us out of problems created by present innovations....The question is whether we can establish conditions to make it a fair and reasonable bet. In the case of fracking…these conditions are largely not in place." Briggle is an advocate of the "proactionary" school, which in the big picture "says that rather than avoid error we should take risks in the pursuit of profound truths and great rewards." On the micro level, the author asks if the risks of fracking are too harmful to outweigh its development in his college town of Denton. Briggle calls on Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, and other philosophers for advice, but he distills the complexity of technological innovation into three elements to assure a "fair and reasonable bet": those most vulnerable to harm must give consent, a system of monitoring must attend the experiment, and the experiment must be modifiable when problems arise. These all come to bear when a group is organized to confront the energy industry and the dangers of fracking. It is a fraught story, but Briggle tells it warmly and cogently, exploring both the interpersonal relationships involved and some of the geological science behind fracking. The rogues are the usual suspects: PAC money, the Data Quality Act, and the merchants of greed who pathetically hide in groups with names like "Taxpayers for a Strong Economy." Goliath takes it right between the eyes in this unique take on the convoluted politics, science, and cultural issues at stake regarding fracking.

Kirkus Reviews