Fracking and framing in transatlantic perspective: A comparison of shale politics in the US and European Union

Journal of Transatlantic Studies

Volumn 15, Issue 2, 2017, Pages 101-120

  Bomberg, Elizabeth ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH   (United Kingdom)

^b University s Global Environment and Society Academy   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

European Union; Fracking; Framing; Shale; US

Indexed keywords

EID: 85009243608     PISSN: 14794012     EISSN: 17541018     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14794012.2016.1268789     Document Type: Article

References (100)

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2. US states vary dramatically from fully engaged Pennsylvania and Texas, to Vermont and New York where the practice is banned. Similarly, European states represent a continuum from relatively enthusiastic Poles and Brits on one end, and adamantly opposed France and Bulgaria on the other.
3. John R. Deni and Karen Smith Stegen, ‘Transatlantic Energy Security: Convergence or Divergence?’, Journal of Transatlantic Studies 10 (2012): 305–12;
4. Miranda Schreurs et al., Transatlantic Environment and Energy Politics (Surrey: Ashgate, 2009).
5. Rusi Jaspal and Brigette Nerlich, ‘Fracking in the UK Press: Threat Dynamics in an Unfolding Debate’, Public Understanding of Science 23 (2014): 348–663;
6. Tamara Metze, ‘Fracking the Debate: Frame Shifts and Boundary Work in Dutch Decision Making on Shale Gas’, Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 16 (2014) 1–18;
7. Rusi Jaspal, B. Nerlich, and S. Lemancyzk, ‘Fracking in the Polish Press: Geopolitics and National Identity’, Energy Policy 74 (2014): 253–61;
8. Jale Tosun, ‘Regulating Hydraulic Fracturing: The Effects of Issue Redefinition’, in Energy Policy-Making in the EU, ed. Jale Tosun, S. Biesenbender, and K. Schulze (Berlin: Springer, 2015), 225–44.
9. Marianne Haug, ‘Shale Gas and Renewables: Divergence or Win-Win for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation?’, Journal of Transatlantic Studies 10 (2012): 358–73.
10. Jon Birger Skjærseth, Guri Bang, and Miranda Schreurs, ‘Explaining Growing Climate Policy Differences Between the EU and the United States’, Global Environmental Politics 13 (2013): 61–80.
11. The literature on US public support for fracking reveals higher support than in the EU (see Pew Research, April 2, 2013, http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/04/02/pewsurvey- americans-have-mixed-feelings-about-fracking/). But US studies note clear internal differences among partisan and demographic lines.
12. K. Brasier et al., ‘Residents’ Perceptions of Community and Environmental Impacts from Development of Natural Gas in the Marcellus Shale: A Comparison of Pennsylvania and New York Cases’, Journal of Rural Social Sciences 26 (2011): 32–61;
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14. Charles Davis and Jennifer Fisk, ‘Energy Abundance or Environmental Worries? Analyzing Public Support for Fracking in the United States’, Review of Policy Research 31 (2014): 1–16.
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16. Eurobarometer, The Europeans and Energy. Opinion Survey (Brussels: European Commission, 2011), http://ec.europa.eu/energy/studies/doc/20110131_eurobarometer_energy.pdf. For a comparison, see European Parliament, ‘The Shale Gas “Revolution” in the United States: Global Implications, Options for the EU DG for External Policies Policy Briefing’ (April 2013).
17. Ivan Pearson, Peter Zeniewski, and Francesco Gracceva, Unconventional Gas: Potential Energy Market Impacts in the European Union (European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Energy and Transport, 2012);
18. Karen Smith Stegen and Julia Kusznir, ‘Transatlantic Energy Relations: A View from Washington’, Journal of Transatlantic Studies 10 (2012): 313–27;
19. Paul Stevens, The Shale Gas Revolution. Developments and Changes. Chatham House Briefing Paper (2012); Haug ‘Shale Gas and Renewables’.
20. Frances McGowan, ‘Regulating Innovation: European Response to Shale Gas Development’, Environmental Politics 23 (2014): 41–58; Stevens, The Shale Gas Revolution.
21. Chi Kong Chyong and David Reiner, ‘Economics and Politics of Shale Gas in Europe’, Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy 4 (2015): 69–84.
22. Matthew Cotton, Ian Rattle, and Jan van Alstine, ‘Shale Gas Policy in the UK. An Argumentative Discourse Analysis’, Energy Policy 73 (2014): 427–38;
23. Elizabeth Bomberg, ‘Shale We Drill? Discourse Dynamics in UK Fracking Debates’, Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning (June 2015). doi:10.1080/1523908X.2015.1053111.
24. Dave Marsh and Rod Rhodes, Policy Networks in British Government (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992).
25. Chris Miller, ‘The Dynamics of Framing Environmental Values and Policy: Four Models of Societal Processes’, Environmental Values 9 (2001): 211–33;
26. Falk Daviter, ‘Policy Framing in the European Union’, Journal of European Public Policy 14 (2007): 654–66.
27. Charles Davis and Katherine Hoffer, ‘Federalizing Energy? Agenda Change and the Politics of Fracking’, Policy Sciences 45 (2012): 221–41.
28. Elizabeth Bomberg, ‘Mind the (Mobilization) Gap: Comparing Climate Activism in the United States and European Union’, Review of Policy Research 29 (2012): 411–33.
29. For both stages of news analysis, I used the Nexis® database to identify the main news stories on shale appearing in quality newspapers in both the US and Europe, 2013–2015. The main sources covered included the New York Times, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Guardian, Telegraph, Der Spiegel (International) Le Monde (English version), PolandWeekly (English version), EUobserver, and European Voice. For an unpublished but comprehensive examination of news coverage of fracking in several countries, see Hal Beresford, ‘Differences in the Media’s Framing of Fracking/Shale Gas in New York, Pennsylvania, Germany and the United Kingdom’ (Unpublished MPP thesis, Sanford School of Public Policy, 2014).
30. EIA, Annual Energy Outlook.
31. For a similar investigation of networks in the UK, see Bomberg, ‘Shale We Drill?’.
32. Barry Rabe and Chris Borick, ‘Conventional Politics for Unconventional Drilling? Lessons from Pennsylvania’s Early Move into Fracking Policy Development’, Review of Policy Research 30 (2013): 321–40.
33. MSC (Marcellus Shale Coalition), ‘About Us’ (2013), http://marcelluscoalition.org/about/.
34. Rabe and Borick, ‘Conventional Politics for Unconventional Drilling?’.
35. Charles Davis, ‘The Politics of Fracking: Regulating Natural Gas Drilling Practices in Colorado and Texas’, Review of Policy Research 29 (2012): 177–91.
36. Davis and Hoffer, ‘Federalizing Energy?’; Rabe and Borick, ‘Conventional Politics for Unconventional Drilling?’.
37. Greenpeace A, ‘Predatory Companies’ (2013), http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/ global-warming-and-energy/The-Problem/fracking/Predatory-Companies/ (accessed July 2014).
38. See, for example, supportive statements from Amy Jaffe, an expert on energy policy at the University of California, ‘Defending the Motion’, Economist Debates: Fracking, http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/934 (accessed January 2014).
39. Erik Milito, ‘Featured Guest: Defending the Motion’, Economist Debates: Fracking (2013), http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/939 (accessed January 2014).
40. API (American Petroleum Institute), ‘News Release. Shale Energy Development Creating Jobs but Could Be Hampered by Unnecessary, Duplicative Regulations’ (2012), http://www.api.org/news-and-media/news/newsitems/2012/oct-2012/api-shale-energy-development- creating-jobs-hampered-by-regulations.aspx.
41. API, ‘Oil and Natural Gas Overview’ (2013), http://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas-overview/exploration-and-production/ hydraulic-fracturing/hydraulic-fracturing-safe-oil-natural-gas-extraction.
42. US Business Roundtable, ‘Taking Action on Energy’ (2013), http://businessroundtable.org/ studies-and-reports/taking-action-on-energy/.
43. Smith Stegen and Kusznir, ‘Transatlantic Energy Relations’; Stevens, The Shale Gas Revolution.
44. MSC, ‘About Us’, emphasis added.
45. Milito, ‘Featured Guest’.
46. US Business Roundtable, ‘Taking Action on Energy’;
47. Jacob Matz and Daniel Renfrew, ‘Selling Fracking: Energy In-depth and the Marcellus Shale’, Environmental Communication (June 2014). doi:10.1080/17524032.2014.929157.
48. Frank Baumgartner and Barry Jones, Agendas and Instability in American Politics, 2nd ed. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2007).
49. Stevens, The Shale Gas Revolution, 3.
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51. Milito, ‘Featured Guest’.
52. Matz and Renfrew, ‘Selling Fracking’, similarly outline well the ‘green imagery’ employed by pro-shale advocates of shale in the US.
53. MSC, ‘MSC Recognizes Earth Day’, Press release, April 22, 2014, http://marcelluscoalition.org/2014/04/msc-recognizes-earth-day/ (accessed December 2014).
54. Fracking involves pumping a mixture of water, chemicals, and sand deep underground to fracture rocks and release deposits of gas. It uses a huge amount of water, most of which remains below ground. But it also disgorges ‘slick water’ containing chemicals and toxins.
55. For most major US environmental NGOs the related issue of tar sand extraction and the pipeline carrying resulting crude, is the key priority.
56. Davis and Hoffer, ‘Federalizing Energy?’.
57. White House deputy chief of staff quoted in the Washington Post, March 20, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/03/20/obama-administration- tightens-rules-on-oil-and-gas-fracking/.
58. The celebrity focus prompted its own backlash with a counter documentary FracNation released in 2013 promising to ‘find the truth’ (see FracNation.com).
59. AAF (Americans Against Fracking), ‘National Call-in Day to Ban Fracking’ (2012), http://www.americansagainstfracking.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/HS_1301_AAFObamaCallinDay_ EDIT2.pdf.
60. Quoted in the Guardian, November 5, 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/05/birthplace-fracking-boom-votes-ban-denton-texas.
61. See for instance, Gaslands II, or FoE, Michael Brune, ‘Against the Motion’, Economist Debates: Fracking (2013), http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/934. Federal legislation currently exempts fracking operations from protections under several Acts regulating air, water andwaste disposal. The 2005 Energy Act, for instance explicitly excludes fracking from the Clean Water Act.
62. Robert Kennedy, ‘The Fracking Industry’s War on the New York Times–and the Truth’, Huffington Post, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/fracking-118E. Bomberg natural-gas-new-york-times-_b_1022337.html; see also Greenpeace, ‘Predatory Companies’.
63. Anthony Ingraffea,‘Gangplank to aWarmerWorld’, International Herald Tribune, July 30, 2013.
64. EIA, Annual Energy Outlook.
65. Guy Chazan, ‘UK Gets Big Shale Find’, Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2011.
66. Elizabeth Bomberg, Governing Shale Gas Development: The European Experience. Issues in Energy and Environmental PolicyReport (Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, 2014).
67. SGE (Shale Gas Europe), ‘About Us’, http://www.shalegas-europe.eu/en/index.php/aboutus/ about-shale-gas-europe.
68. Stevens, The Shale Gas Revolution, 10.
69. Skjærseth, Bang, and Schreurs, ‘Explaining Growing Climate Policy Differences’.
70. Haug, ‘Shale Gas and Renewables’;
71. Bomberg, Governing Shale Gas Development.
72. The full name is ‘Technical Working Group on environmental aspects of unconventional fossil fuels, in particular shale gas (E02671)’, http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetail&groupID=2671.
73. SGE, ‘Our Experts’, http://www.shalegas-europe.eu/category/opinion/.
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75. Quoted in the Economist, December 8, 2012.
76. ERT (European Roudtable), ‘Current Issues. Energy’ (2013), http://www.ert.eu/issue/energy.
77. Russia supplies nearly 40% of EU’s gas imports. See European Parliament, ‘Shale Gas and EU Energy Security’, Briefing Paper (December 2014), http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2014/542167/EPRS_BRI(2014)542167_REV1_EN.pdf.
78. SGE, 2013, ‘About Us’.
79. Quoted in ‘Interview with Piotr Grzegorz Wozniak’, Euronews, November 2, 2012, http://www.euronews.com/2012/11/02/fracking-in-europe/.
80. IOGP (International Association of Oil and Gas Producers), ‘FAQs’, http://www.iogp.org/PapersPDF/v2_Shale_FAQs_1.2_high.pdf.
81. SGE, 2013, ‘About Us’.
82. European Commission, ‘Environment Directorate. Brussels: European Commission’ (2013), http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/energy/unconventional_en.htm.
83. IOWG, ‘Shale Revolution’.
84. Quoted in the Guardian, March 13, 2013.
85. FoE UK (Friends of the Earth UK), ‘Local Action’. Friends of the Earth UK, http://www.foe.co.uk/news/using_planning_system_fight_39057.html (accessed February 2014).
86. McGowan, ‘Regulating Innovation’, 11.
87. Andrew Higgins, ‘Russian Money Suspected Behind Fracking Protests’, New York Times, November 30, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/ world/russian-money-suspected-behind-fracking-protests.html?_r=0.
88. McGowan, ‘Regulating Innovation’, 10.
89. European Parliament, Resolution of 21 November 2012. (Brussels: European Parliament, 2012).
90. Interview with Commission official, Brussels, March 16, 2015.
91. FoE Europe (Friends of the Earth Europe), Shale Gas: Energy Solution or Fracking Hell?, Briefing Paper (March 2012), http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/shale_gas.pdf.
92. European Commission, Energy Directorate (Brussels: European Commission, 2012), http:// ec.europa.eu/energy/studies/energy_en.htm.
93. Guardian, October 4, 2013.
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95. Bomberg, ‘Shale We Drill?’.
96. Helen Rimmer, ‘Viewpoints: Fracking’s Risks’, BBC, January 5, 2013, www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environemnt.
97. Eurobarometer, Special Eurobarometer 409. Climate Change (Brussels: European Commission, 2014), ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_409_en.pdf;
98. Frank Umbach ‘The Intersection of Climate Protection Policies and Energy Security’, Journal of Transatlantic Studies 10 (2012): 374–87.
99. See Schreurs et al., 2009.
100. Kai Schafft, Yetkin Borlu, and Leland Glenna, ‘The Relationship Between Marcellus Shale Gas Development in Pennsylvania and Local Perceptions of Risk and Opportunity’, Rural Sociology 78 (2013): 143–66.