Use of Fracking Information Disclosure Policies to Reduce Uncertainty in Risk‐Based Decisions

Sean Lonnquist and Deborah Gallagher

Review of Policy Research, 2021, vol. 38, issue 3, 326-346

Abstract: The hydraulic fracturing (fracking) boom has outpaced both our understanding of its potential impacts on human health and the environment, as well as the legal and regulatory frameworks in place to govern it. We conducted interviews in Pennsylvania with individuals living in communities affected by fracking to examine how residents perceive the laws and regulations that are in place to protect them from its risks. We found that residents felt that they lacked access to sufficiently comprehensive and comprehensible information about the potential risks that fracking poses. We then drew from scholarship on the use of information disclosure as a regulatory tool to discuss the need for increased information transparency in the fracking context, and proposed several policy interventions that could ease the information asymmetry experienced by residents in these communities. 水力压裂（fracking）的激增不仅超出了我们对其对人类健康和环境的潜在影响的理解，还超出了用于治理水力压裂的现有法律和监管框架。我们对受水力压裂影响的宾夕法尼亚社区居民进行访谈，分析居民如何感知用于保护其远离风险的相关现有法律和规制。我们发现，居民认为自己无法充分获取全面的、易理解的水力压裂潜在风险信息。我们随后从关于信息披露作为监管工具的学术文献中提取信息，探讨水力压裂情境下对增强信息透明度的需求，并提出几项用于减少社区居民所经历的信息不对称的政策干预措施。 El auge de la fracturación hidráulica (fracking) ha superado tanto nuestra comprensión de sus posibles impactos en la salud humana y el medio ambiente, como los marcos legales y regulatorios vigentes para gobernarlo. Realizamos entrevistas en Pensilvania con personas que viven en comunidades afectadas por el fracking para examinar cómo los residentes perciben las leyes y regulaciones vigentes para protegerlos de sus riesgos. Descubrimos que los residentes sentían que no tenían acceso a información suficientemente completa y comprensible sobre los riesgos potenciales que plantea el fracking. Luego nos basamos en la investigación sobre el uso de la divulgación de información como una herramienta reguladora para discutir la necesidad de una mayor transparencia de la información en el contexto del fracking, y propusimos varias intervenciones de política que podrían aliviar la asimetría de información que experimentan los residentes en estas comunidades.

Date: 2021
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