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Deliberating the perceived risks, benefits, and societal implications of shale gas and oil extraction by hydraulic fracturing in the US and UK

Nature Energy volume 2, Article number: 17054 (2017) Cite this article

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Abstract

Shale gas and oil production in the US has increased rapidly in the past decade, while interest in prospective development has also arisen in the UK. In both countries, shale resources and the method of their extraction (hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’) have been met with opposition amid concerns about impacts on water, greenhouse gas emissions, and health effects. Here we report the findings of a qualitative, cross-national deliberation study of public perceptions of shale development in UK and US locations not yet subject to extensive shale development. When presented with a carefully calibrated range of risks and benefits, participants’ discourse focused on risks or doubts about benefits, and potential impacts were viewed as inequitably distributed. Participants drew on direct, place-based experiences as well as national contexts in deliberating shale development. These findings suggest that shale gas development already evokes a similar ‘signature’ of risk across the US and UK.

The development of hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) techniques, by which pressurized liquid and sand are injected into wells to fracture shale rock and extract oil and gas, has led to rapid increases in US domestic fossil fuel production. Other countries, including in Europe, are looking to emulate this lead. In some US states the commercial development of shale has accelerated rapidly in the past decade, leading to full-scale extraction industries (for example, in Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas). In the UK, as conventional reserves decline, the government is looking for new sources of fossil fuels, arguing that shale gas production could reduce dependency on imports. However, in both countries shale development has attracted significant environmental and legal controversy, with fracking proposals in some US states leading on occasion to local, regional or state-wide moratoria. In addition, scientists forecast that most of the world’s known fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground if global warming is to be limited to 2 ∘C above pre-industrial levels1, while more localized concerns about hydraulic fracturing include potential risks of water contamination and induced seismicity2,3 as well as social impacts and health effects4.

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Figure 1: Summary of importance rankings.
Figure 2: Responses to post-workshop survey questions.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this research was provided by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) in Cooperative Agreement SES-0938099 and grant SES-1535193. Supplemental funding came from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 640715. Views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. We would like to thank all of our participants in the US and UK, without whom this research would not have been possible, and the members of our expert panel for their time and expertise. We also thank A. Hasell, L. Stevenson, C. Enders, R. Sposato and E. Roberts for assistance in workshops and data analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Understanding Risk Group and Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, 70 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK

    Merryn Thomas & Nick Pidgeon

  2. Center for Nanotechnology in Society and Department of Anthropology, University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), Santa Barbara, California 93106-3210, USA

    Tristan Partridge & Barbara Herr Harthorn

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Contributions

M.T., T.P., N.P. and B.H.H. designed and performed the research; M.T. and T.P. analysed the data; M.T., T.P., N.P. and B.H.H. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Nick Pidgeon.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Data 1

Workshop protocol (US/UK). (PDF 3116 kb)

Supplementary Data 2

PowerPoint presentation (US/UK). (PDF 2306 kb)

Supplementary Data 3

Advantages and disadvantages posters (US/UK). (PDF 366 kb)

Supplementary Data 4

Extra information sheets for poster task (US/UK). (PDF 664 kb)

Supplementary Data 5

Quotes task (US/UK). (PDF 275 kb)

Supplementary Data 6

Cards used in role playing task (US/UK). (PDF 743 kb)

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Thomas, M., Partridge, T., Harthorn, B. et al. 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). https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2017.54

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