Shaping State Fracking Policies in the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles E. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Horizontal Drilling ◽  
Gas Drilling ◽  
The Past ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
State And Local

This article presents an overview of research focusing on how state and local governments have regulated oil and gas over the past decade following the expanded industry use of new technologies like hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling. A consequence of fracking was a substantial increase in energy production accompanied by the emergence of policy concerns about how resource development and jobs could be balanced with efforts to maintain environmental quality. Researchers have dealt with three key concerns in the following sections: (1) determining whether state and local officials can each play an important role in developing policies affecting oil and gas drilling activities, (2) examining how state regulators deal with environmental and health impacts associated with fracking, and (3) looking at how state policy decisions have been shaped taking into account both state-level political and economic characteristics and agency resources and political will.

scholarly journals Promoting Clean Energy Innovation at the State and Local Level

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 360-373
Author(s):  
David Popp
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
State Level ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Working Paper ◽  
Energy Innovation ◽  
State And Local

AbstractInnovation is an important part of energy policy, and encouraging clean energy innovation is often an explicit goal of policy makers. For local governments, promoting clean energy innovation is seen not only as a pathway to a cleaner economy but also as a tool for promoting the local economy. But is such optimism warranted? There is a substantial literature examining the relationships between innovation and environmental policy, but few studies focus explicitly on innovation at the state and local level. In this paper, I provide key lessons from research on clean energy innovation, focusing on lessons relevant for state and local governments. I then summarize the results of a recent working paper by Fu et al. (2018) that studied wind energy innovation across individual states in the United States. While state-level policies can promote clean energy innovation, it is overall market size that matters most. Thus, innovation need not occur in those states most actively promoting clean energy. I conclude with lessons for state and local governments drawn from both this work and the broader literature on energy innovation.

scholarly journals How State Interventions affect Municipalities Taking the Lead in Sustainability

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6479
Author(s):  
Jayce L. Farmer ◽  
Andres J. Rodriguez Lombeida
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
State Energy ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Multilevel Governance ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Internal Operations ◽  
State And Local

The state and local governments throughout the United States interact within a complex system of multilevel governance to advance sustainability. However, we know little about what this hierarchical system of exchanges means for municipalities as they work to achieve energy efficient government operations. Drawing on a perspective of “contested federalism”, we examine how the transaction costs of state–local government relations affect the efforts of U.S. cities to lead by example and promote sustainability within their internal processes. We apply a Bayesian item response theory approach to assess the effects of state-level fiscal and policy interventions on municipal commitments to energy efficiency programs within their internal operations. Our findings suggest that increased fiscal support for state energy programs enhances municipal commitments to government focused energy efficiency. We also find a positive connection between state energy efficiency standards and municipal efforts to enhance energy efficiency within their internal operations. The alignment of state resources and policy efforts with municipal actions can reduce commitment and agency costs that obstruct policy outcomes. The findings speak to the importance of multilevel governance exchanges in municipal efforts to become leaders in sustainability.

A National Assessment of Local Earthquake Mitigation: Implications for Planning and Public Policy

1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip R. Berke ◽  
Timothy Beatley
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Mail Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Earthquake Mitigation ◽  
Seismic Hazard Mitigation ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
Local Earthquake ◽  
State And Local

This paper presents conclusions and their implications for planning and public policy from a comprehensive study of local seismic hazard mitigation programs throughout the United States. Data from the study were obtained from a mail survey and three case communities. A key study conclusion is that while earthquake mitigation activity is higher among California communities than in communities of other states, it is considerably lower than for other types of hazards. Other key conclusions are that local officials can undertake a variety of activities to effectively advance planning for earthquakes, and that the more effective activities occurred through an interactive learning process where creative compromises among differing community perspectives were more likely. These conclusions imply that while there is a substantial need to better integrate earthquake mitigation into development and land use decision making, local government efforts to advance mitigation programs have a substantial potential for success. They also imply that achieving effective local response requires substantial changes in current practices of federal, state and local governments.

scholarly journals Dreaming in 3-D

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (08) ◽  
pp. 36-41
Author(s):  
Alan S. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
The United States ◽  
Jet Engines ◽  
Printing Technology ◽  
Product Cycles ◽  
Gas Drilling ◽  
The Past ◽  
Artificial Bones

This article discusses how three-dimensional (3-D) printing technology has advanced in the past few years. The 3-D printing technology has been around for more than three decades, but it has come a long way in the past few years. It has established niches in everything from jet engines to oil and gas drilling. It is used to customize such personalized products as orthodontics, hearing aids, and arch and sole supports. Laboratories have printed small robots that come out of the printer with their batteries in place. Printers have created complete automobiles and turbine engines, and even artificial bones and organs. Politicians in the United States now propose 3-D printing as the solution to America’s manufacturing problems. Corporations imagine that this technology could slash time in product cycles and improve performance with new designs. Some people also envision a future where people would be manufacturing products (and replacement parts) at their homes using 3-D printing technology.

scholarly journals A Survey of Typical Claims and Key Defenses Asserted in Recent Hydraulic Fracturing Litigation

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-334
Author(s):  
Michael Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Small Energy ◽  
Horizontal Drilling ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Drinking Water Resources ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas ◽  
Energy Companies

Small energy companies using hydraulic fracturing, along with horizontal drilling, are unlocking vast oil and natural gas deposits trapped in shale all over the United States. Over the past few years, several key technical, economic, and energy policy developments have spurred increased use of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas extraction over a wider diversity of geographic regions and geologic formations.2 However, with the expansion of hydraulic fracturing, there have been increasing concerns voiced by the public about potential impacts on drinking water resources, public health, and the environment.

scholarly journals Criminal Law & Migration Control: Recent History & Future Possibilities

Daedalus ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 151 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-134
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Chacón
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigration Enforcement ◽  
Immigration Reform ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Migration Control ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
State And Local ◽  
And Control

Abstract Immigration enforcement in the United States has undergone a revolutionary transformation over the past three decades. Once episodic, border-focused, and generally confined to the efforts of a relatively small federal agency, immigration enforcement is now exceedingly well-funded and integrated deeply into the everyday policing of the interior United States. Not only are federal immigration agents more numerous and ubiquitous in the interior, but immigration enforcement has been integrated into the policing practices of state and local officials who once saw their purview as largely distinct from that of federal immigration enforcement agents. This essay briefly explains these developments, from shortly before the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 through the present day, and assesses their consequences. It includes a brief discussion of the ways states and localities have responded to federal enforcement trends, whether through amplification or constraint.

scholarly journals The 60th Anniversary of the Everson Decision and America's Church-State Proposition

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl H. Esbeck
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fourteenth Amendment ◽  
Establishment Clause ◽  
Board Of Education ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
State And Local ◽  
The Many ◽  
State Relations

On February 10, 1947, the United States Supreme Court handed down Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township. For scholars of the First Amendment, Everson marks the beginning of the Supreme Court's modern era with respect to church-state relations. It is easy enough to state the reason for the decision's prominence, for it was in Everson where the Establishment Clause was first “incorporated” through the Fourteenth Amendment and made applicable to the actions of all state and local governments. But just what did it mean to take the restraints on federal power that comprise the principle of no-establishment and to make them limits on the governments of the several states, as well as on the thousands of municipalities, counties, and school districts that dot the land? In Part II of these remarks, I will focus on what has occurred downstream of Everson over these event-filled sixty years. As the reader will see, I am of the belief that Everson's new deal has resulted in more good than harm for religious freedom. Still the record is mixed, as it is with most major developments. However, before going there, in Part I of this extended essay, I look back in time to recapture just what was in the bundle of restraints that all nine of the Justices in Everson said they were bringing forward via the Fourteenth Amendment and making newly binding on the many unsuspecting state and local officials.

Shale, Quakes, and High Stakes: Regulating Fracking-Induced Seismicity in Oklahoma, USA and Lancashire, UK

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Miriam R. Aczel ◽  
Karen E. Makuch
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Seismic Activity ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
High Volume ◽  
The United States ◽  
Horizontal Drilling ◽  
Induced Seismic Activity

High-volume hydraulic fracturing combined with horizontal drilling has “revolutionized” the United States’ oil and gas industry by allowing extraction of previously inaccessible oil and gas trapped in shale rock [1]. Although the United States has extracted shale gas in different states for several decades, the United Kingdom is in the early stages of developing its domestic shale gas resources, in the hopes of replicating the United States’ commercial success with the technologies [2, 3]. However, the extraction of shale gas using hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling poses potential risks to the environment and natural resources, human health, and communities and local livelihoods. Risks include contamination of water resources, air pollution, and induced seismic activity near shale gas operation sites. This paper examines the regulation of potential induced seismic activity in Oklahoma, USA, and Lancashire, UK, and concludes with recommendations for strengthening these protections.

Industrial Policy and Local Economic Transformation: Evidence From the U.S. Rust Belt

2021 ◽  
pp. 089124242110228
Author(s):  
Ben Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Policy ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
State Level ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Rust Belt ◽  
Industrial Policies ◽  
Cast Doubt ◽  
State And Local

State and local governments frequently invest in policies aimed at stimulating the growth of new industries, but studies of industrial policy and related economic development initiatives cast doubt on their effectiveness. This article examines the role of state-level industrial policies in contributing to the different economic trajectories of two U.S. metro areas—Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Cleveland, Ohio—as they adapted to the decline of their legacy industries. Comparative case studies show that industrial policies in Pittsburgh, which empowered research universities as local economic leaders, contributed to the transformation of the local economy. In Cleveland, by contrast, state industrial policies invested in making incremental improvements, particularly in legacy sectors. The article concludes that by empowering new local economic actors—such as universities—industrial policies can foment political change that enables structural economic change to follow.

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