Decade of Marcellus Shale: Impacts to people, policy, and culture from 2008 to 2018 in the greater mid-Atlantic Region of the United States
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Authors
Jacquet, Jeffrey B.
Junod, Anne N.
Bugden, Dylan
Wildermuth, Grace
Fergen, Joshua T.
Jalbert, Kirk
Rahm, Brian
Hagley, Paige
Brasier, Kathryn J.
Schafft, Kai
Issue Date
2018
Volume
5
Issue
4
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
It’s been just over a decade since Unconventional Oil and Gas development began in earnest in the Marcellus Shale, a dense shale formation that, along with the deeper and larger Utica Shale, covers much of the mid-Atlantic United States. Since January 2008, approximately 15,939 wells have been drilled and fracked at 5674 sites across these shales. This decennial documents the pace, scale, and stages of actual development and takes stock of the social science on impacts to communities, people, policies, and culture. We have divided this article into the following sections that are categorized both geographically and thematically: Pennsylvania: Heart of the Marcellus Shale Play, focuses on the plethora of social science research that has occurred on impacts to Pennsylvania communities, health, economics, and agricultural production; West Virginia and Ohio: Legacies of Extraction discusses research on the overlapping historical legacies of extractive industries in the region and details results of original research examining perceived impacts to residents amid complex historical natural resource lineages; and New York: Fracking, Culture and Politics examines how the regulatory process to develop the Marcellus Shale affected both the state and nation’s culture, politics, and policy as one of the most densely populated regions of the US came to grips with hosting the modern-day Oil and Gas Industry. We conclude with a discussion of emerging research opportunities and directions as a new generation of social scientists document future development in the Marcellus and Utica Shales.
Description
Citation
Jeffrey B. Jacquet, Anne N. Junod, Dylan Bugden, Grace Wildermuth, Joshua T. Fergen, Kirk Jalbert, Brian Rahm, Paige Hagley, Kathryn J. Brasier, Kai Schafft, Leland Glenna, Timothy Kelsey, Joshua Fershee, David L. Kay, Richard C. Stedman & James Ladleec, A Decade of Marcellus Shale: Impacts to People, Policy, and Culture from 2008 to 2018 in the Greater Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States, 5 Extractive Industries and Soc'y 596 (2018).