Institutional Dilemmas of Hydraulic Fracking: Economic Bonanza, Renewable Energy Bridge, or Gangplank to Disaster?

• In Event: 331 - Section on Environment and Technology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 08. Politics, Policy, and Environmental Governance (Group A)

Abstract

In this critical essay, we offer a preliminary analysis of some of the institutional dilemmas facing the expansion of unconventional gas/oil development and hydraulic fracking in the U.S. energy arena today. We start our exploration of the fracking process far underground, visit the wellhead, landscape, and property impacts above ground, and end up in the atmosphere where carbon and methane emissions are increasing. More specifically, we critique the key discursive claims of fossil fuel proponents that fracking offers the nation: 1) a viable “economic bonanza” for sustainable community development; 2) a “renewable energy bridge” to an alternative technology future; and 3) a “clean” energy source that will reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions and help avert the growing threat of climate change in the 21st century. We conclude with some observations on the future direction of the role of fracking in U.S. energy policy and the inherent risks posed by the prospects of a new Third Carbon Era driven by fracking and other methods of “extreme energy” production.

Authors

• Anthony E. Ladd, Loyola University New Orleans

• Charles B. Perrow, Yale University