Seeing futures now: Emergent US and UK views on shale development, climate change and energy systems

Tristan Partridge,Ariel Hasell,Louise Stevenson,Nick Pidgeon,Merryn Thomas,Barbara Herr Harthorn,Catherine Enders

doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.11.002

Abstract

Shale development – extraction of oil and gas from shale rock formations using hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ – has become a critical focus for energy debates in the US and UK. In both countries, potential industry expansion into new areas for shale extraction is expected to produce a wide range of environmental and social impacts and to change the configuration of future energy systems. To engage with emergent views on these complex, multi-scale issues, we held a series of day-long deliberation workshops (two in the US and two in the UK) designed and facilitated for diverse groups of people to discuss a range of possible consequences and meanings of shale development. Amid nuanced differences between and within national contexts, notable similarities in views were tracked across all four workshops. Concerns in common were not limited to specific risks such as water contamination. Participants also questioned whether shale development was compatible with their visions for and concerns about the longer-term future – including views on impacts and causes of climate change, societal dependency on fossil fuels, development of alternative energy technologies, the perceived short-term objectives of government and industry agencies, and obligations to act responsibly toward future generations. Extending prior qualitative research on shale development and on energy systems change, this research brings open-ended and cross-national public deliberation inquiry to bear on broader issues of climate change, responsibility, and ideas about how shale development might undermine or reinforce the energy systems that people consider important for the future.

Highlights

Fossil fuel extraction from shale rock using processes of hydraulic fracturing has increased significantly in recent years
We ask how people in small public deliberation groups across multiple US and UK locations form or refine views on shale development and associated near- and long-term impacts when considered as part of larger energy systems. We examine these emergent views in the context of broader discussions on: tensions between immediate interests versus longer-term concerns (Groves, 2014); dependency on fossil fuels (Demski et al, 2015); and questions about individual, collective, industry, and governmental responsibilities for changing energy systems to address long-term societal needs (Leiss and Powell, 2004; Lorenzoni and Hulme, 2009)
Concerns are emerging regarding the social and environmental consequences of extracting these previously inaccessible and relatively abundant fossil fuels (Hughes, 2013; Davis and Fisk, 2014), raising critical issues related to economic growth, environmental impacts, climate change and energy systems (Boudet et al, 2013; Demski et al, 2015)

Summary

Introduction

Fossil fuel extraction from shale rock using processes of hydraulic fracturing (or ‘fracking’) has increased significantly in recent years. This has created a range of measurable impacts at local, regional, national and global levels (Willow, 2014). Shale oil and gas are referred to as unconventional fossil fuels because they are located in low-permeability source rock and cannot be extracted using methods that drill directly into conventional subsurface resource reservoirs (Stern et al, 2014). Extraction from shale requires a combination of additional technologies, some new and some repurposed These include highvolume, high-pressure hydraulic fracturing in which fluid and finegrain sand are injected to open fissures in the shale in order to access the oil and gas it contains (CCST, 2015). Concerns are emerging regarding the social and environmental consequences of extracting these previously inaccessible and relatively abundant fossil fuels (Hughes, 2013; Davis and Fisk, 2014), raising critical issues related to economic growth (including job creation), environmental impacts (such as water contamination), climate change and energy systems (Boudet et al, 2013; Demski et al, 2015)

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