Experiencing the impact of Marcellus Shale: a case study

Dave Ramsaran and Matthew C Rousu

International Journal of Social Economics, 2016, vol. 43, issue 5, 517-531

Abstract: Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to attempt to ascertain how people who are experiencing the process of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract gas, define it. A case study is done on the town of Canton in Central Pennsylvania. Design/methodology/approach - – A combination of in-depth interviews and content analysis of town hall meetings in the area, and content analysis of articles in the local newspaper (Canton Sentinel) were used to get a sense of how the people who live in this area are experiencing the increase in natural gas extraction. The study attempts to use the notion of framing and interpretive methodology to make sense of how some people in a small town experience the process. Findings - – The major finding is that those that benefit directly from the industry tend to have more positive evaluation than those that do not benefit directly. Even those that benefited directly had concerns about the environmental impact of fracking, however have not as yet developed an appropriate narrative with which to articulate their concerns in a coherent manner. Originality/value - – Few studies have been done that attempt to take into consideration the point of view of those who are directly experiencing the operation of the gas companies. How local residents are interpreting the impact of the gas industry is only just emerging however understanding that process would be paramount for public policy creation after the gas industry has matured and begins to decline.

Keywords: Local economies; Sustainable development; Fracking; Boom-bust economies; Marcellus Shale (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijsepp:v:43:y:2016:i:5:p:517-531

DOI: 10.1108/IJSE-10-2014-0199

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Social Economics is currently edited by Professor Terence Garrett

More articles in International Journal of Social Economics from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().