Community Impact of Unconventional gas development: Summary, Challenges and Conceptual Framework

Abstract

Abstract:The exploitation of any energy resource produces impacts and bears risks; unconventional natural gas resources are not an exemption. The development of unconventional gas has potential to change local economies and social relations. With the aim to understand the social impact on rural communities experiencing unconventional gas development, researchers have turned towards earlier efforts, in particular of rural sociologists which have developed a robust literature assessing the social and economic impact using mainstream models such as The Boomtown Model, The Social Disruption Boomtown Model, The Natural Gas Development Model, and The Resource Curse Model. The frameworks are instructive and provide a useful starting point for assessing the main social attitudes towards unconventional gas development; however, some assumptions used to fundament the models no longer fit, and more rigorous research and analysis is necessary with the aim to adapt to the new era of energy development. Collecting evidence on the impact of the unconventional natural gas exploitation is still work in progress as the resource has only recently been started to be commercially exploited in the United States.