When Fracking Comes to Town: Governance, Planning, and Economic Impacts of the US Shale Boom

by Sabina E. Deitrick (Editor), Ilia Murtazashvili (Editor)

Overview

When Fracking Comes to Town traces the response of local communities to the shale gas revolution. Rather than cast communities as powerless to respond to oil and gas companies and their landmen, it shows that communities have adapted their local rules and regulations to meet the novel challenges accompanying unconventional gas extraction through fracking. The multidisciplinary perspectives of this volume's essays tie together insights from planners, legal scholars, political scientists, and economists. What emerges is a more nuanced perspective of shale gas development and its impacts on municipalities and residents.

Unlike many political debates that cast fracking in black-and-white terms, this book's contributors embrace the complexity of local responses to fracking. States adapted legal institutions to meet the new challenges posed by this energy extraction process while under-resourced municipal officials and local planning offices found creative ways to alleviate pressure on local infrastructure and reduce harmful effects of fracking on the environment. The essays in When Fracking Comes to Town tell a story of community resilience with the rise and decline of shale gas production.

Contributors: Ennio Piano, Ann M. Eisenberg, Pamela A. Mischen, Joseph T. Palka, Jr., Adelyn Hall, Carla Chifos, Teresa Córdova, Rebecca Matsco, Anna C. Osland, Carolyn G. Loh, Gavin Roberts, Sandeep Kumar Rangaraju, Frederick Tannery, Larry McCarthy, Erik R. Pages, Mark C. White, Martin Romitti, Nicholas G. McClure, Ion Simonides, Jeremy G. Weber, Max Harleman, Heidi Gorovitz Robertson

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501761010
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	01/15/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	318
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Sabina E. Deitrick is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and Codirector of the Urban and Regional Analysis program, University Center for Social and Urban Research at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a coauthor of The Rise of the Gunbelt. Follow her on Twitter @deitrick.

Ilia Murtazashvili is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and Associate Director of the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of The Political Economy of Fracking and several other books. Follow him on X @IMurtazashvili.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Beyond the Boom, by Sabina E. Deitrick and Ilia Murtazashvili
Part I: GOVERNANCE
1. The Shale Boom in Historical Perspective, by Ilia Murtazashvili and Ennio Piano
2. Local Jurisdictions and Variations in State Law in theMarcellus Shale Region, by Heidi Gorovitz Robertson
3. How the Legal Framework of Fracking in Appalachia Disserves the Poor, by Ann M. Eisenberg
4. Framing Fracking through Local Lenses, by Pamela A. Mischen and Joseph T. Palka, Jr.
Part II: PLANNING
5. Using Boom town Models to Understand the Consequences of Fracking, by Adelyn Hall and Carla Chifos
6. Hydraulic Fracturing and Boom town Planning in Western North Dakota, by Teresa Córdova
7. Local Planning in Beaver County and the Shell Cracker Plant, by Sabina E. Deitrick and Rebecca Matsco
8. The Resource Conflict and the Local Economic Trade-Offs of Fracking, by Anna C. Osland and Carolyn G. Loh
Part III: ECONOMIC IMPACT
9. Local Labor Markets and Shale Gas, by Frederick Tannery and Larry McCarthy
10. Shale Energy and Regional Economic Development Impacts in Northwest Pennsylvania, by Erik R. Pages, Martin Romitti, and Mark C. White
11. The Boom, the Bust, and the Cost of the Cleanup, by Nicholas G. McClure, Ion Simonides, and Jeremy G. Weber
12. Private and Public Economic Impacts of Fracking in Wyoming, by Gavin Roberts and Sandeep Kumar Rangaraju
13. An Economic and Policy Analysis of Shale Gas Well Bond, by Max Harleman
Conclusion: Lessons and Extensions, by Sabina E. Deitrick and Ilia Murtazashvili

What People are Saying About This

Sarmistha Majumdar

When Fracking Comes to Town investigates a wide range of topics from an urban planner's perspective. It is a useful resource for those engaged in debates about balancing public interests with private ones in the United States.

Jonathan M. Fisk

Combining insights from politics, sociology, and economics, When Fracking Comes to Town relates an interesting, well-written narrative about unconventional oil and gas management in one region of the United States.

Editorial Reviews

This volume can serve as a blueprint for local decision-makers to aid in decisionmaking that more holistically weighs the tradeoffs of energy development. It will also serve as a useful teaching resource to introduce both undergraduate and graduate students to the realities communities face when fracking comes to town.

The Pennsylvania Geographer

Each [chapter] is well written and clear, drawing variously upon empirical data, economic analysis, and theoretical development. Clear insight is provided by the authors and editors [...]the book would be of broad interest to scholars and graduate-level researchers in the fields of economic geography, rural sociology, energy economics and environmental justice.

Journal of Urban Affairs

This volume can serve as a blueprint for local decision-makers to aid in decisionmaking that more holistically weighs the tradeoffs of energy development. It will also serve as a useful teaching resource to introduce both undergraduate and graduate students to the realities communities face when fracking comes to town.

-- "The Pennsylvania Geographer"

Each [chapter] is well written and clear, drawing variously upon empirical data, economic analysis, and theoretical development. Clear insight is provided by the authors and editors [...]the book would be of broad interest to scholars and graduate-level researchers in the fields of economic geography, rural sociology, energy economics and environmental justice.

-- "Journal of Urban Affairs"

From the Publisher