Environmental Information Disclosure and Risk Reduction among the States

The Right to Know? State Politics of Fracking Disclosure

“…In order to understand what factors may account for variations in state disclosure policies, this paper adopts Abel et al. 's () industrial environmental performance model (see Matisoff, ). The framework includes several key categories of variables such as external political pressures generated by interest groups and industry, social pressures, and policy commitments made by policy makers.…”

“…Although Abel et al. 's () model is my theoretical foundation, I add one key variable—unemployment as measured by the state's average unemployment rate from 2008 to 2010 as job creation is one of the promises made by fracking advocates.…”

“…Most studies addressing the importance of information disclosure, however, focus on federal programs such as the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) and whether such programs are effective at reducing environmental externalities at the firm level. Again, in the context of TRI disclosure, scholars such as, Abel, Stephan, and Kraft (ASK) (), have identified what variables may account for improvements in a firm's environmental performance (see also Fiorino, ). While yielding valuable insights relative to the variables associated with effective and ineffective environmental performance, this focus ignores variation present in the disclosure regimes themselves.…”

“…It does so by relying upon the variables identified by Abel et al. 's industrial performance model. It then pivots and considers whether the ASK model can be a useful conceptual device to explain the variation observed in the content of the state disclosure regulations.…”

Fractured Relationships

“…Abel, Stephan, and Kraft (2007), for example, argue that higher levels of citizen' affluence and education tend to lead to greater levels of environmental awareness among stakeholders (see also Daley and Garand 2005;Howell and Laska 1992;Jones and Dunlap 1992;Matisoff 2008;C. Wood 2011).…”