Translocal anti-fracking activism: an exploration of network structure and tie content

ABSTRACT

In order to develop conceptual models that reflect the realities of networked communicative processes scholars must examine both the underlying network structure and the content of these ties. Using mixed methods, I apply a relational perspective to the role of digital technologies in transnational organizing, using activism against high-volume hydraulic fracturing as a case study. In-depth interviews are combined with social network analysis of hyper-linkages between organizations supporting a day of action calling for a ban on fracking, Global Frackdown. Analysis shows that activism against unconventional fossil fuels brings together very localized concerns about environmental risks associated with extractive industries with more abstract global concerns. I apply the concept of translocal to examine environmental organizations and movements. This conceptual shift focuses on the brokerage role of global-minded local groups in mediating global issues back to the hyper-local scale. While international NGOs play a coordinating role, local groups with a global worldview can connect transnational movements to the hyper-local scale by networking with groups that are too small to appear in a transnational network.     

页岩气压裂返排液处理技术的研究进展

页岩气是一种重要的天然气资源,在其水力压裂开采过程中加入了多种有机添加剂,产生了大量具有高黏度、高COD、高含盐量特性的压裂返排液,常规处理技术难以实现其达标排放或回用。分析了页岩气压裂返排液的组分和特点,归纳总结了成熟的传统处理技术和新型处理技术的特点,提出了优化压裂返排液处理工艺、加强环境信息公开、研发节能环保的新型页岩气压裂技术的未来发展方向,为页岩气压裂返排液无害化、资源化处理技术的研发提供了思路和参考。     

涪陵页岩气开发主要环境风险分析及对策研究

涪陵国家级页岩气示范区取得重大突破对中国页岩气行业产生了重大影响,但开发过程中的环境风险也不容忽视,主要包括:钻井液漏失、废水污染物、固体废物等.对此,涪陵示范区创新环境管理模式,通过构建完善的环境管理体系、优化井场选址、强化井场标准化建设、细化污染防治措施、开展环境监理工作、强化日常环境监测、加强新技术研究与应用等手段,有效的控制了页岩气开发过程中的环境风险,较好的保护了当地的环境,具有很好的示范和推广作用.     

Questioning the local: environmental regulation,shale gas extraction,and the politics of scale

ABSTRACT

The exploration and potential extraction of shale gas – better known as fracking – has emerged as one of the most contentious dimensions to local environmental politics in the UK. Local residents and environmental activists have raised concerns about health, noise, ground water contamination, seismicity, environmental amenity, and other impacts of the industry on communities. Despite the complexities of shale gas extraction, an emphasis on the local has shaped key dimensions of the debate around the appropriate location for well pads to the relative exclusion of other issues. This paper draws on fieldwork in Lancashire, UK, to reflect on the political construction of scale in order to explore how an emphasis on “the local” can restrict political debate over shale gas to narrow concerns with land-use planning thereby obviating a fuller engagement with wider questions concerning risk, energy policy, and climate change. It is concluded that a more nuanced conception of scale is necessary for understanding how concerns with shale gas are diminished rather than strengthened through the current planning policy and regulatory regime operating in the UK.     

Shale gas development and community response: perspectives from Treaty 8 territory,British Columbia

Northeast British Columbia (BC), Canada, is the site of a fast-growing shale gas industry that is a cornerstone of the current provincial government's economic policy. In this paper, we explore the perspectives of local First Nations (members of Treaty 8) regarding governance of this industry, focusing in particular on the experiences of the Fort Nelson First Nation (FNFN). Based on findings from 15 in-depth interviews with staff from four Treaty 8 First Nations, the Treaty 8 Tribal Association, oil and gas companies, and the Government of BC, we argue that current governance processes fail to adequately protect the environment and treaty rights. We also explore the diverse tactics that the FNFN is using to gain influence over shale gas development within its territories as the Nation seeks to achieve “balanced development” that protects the local ecology and treaty rights while maximising local economic benefits. Through an array of tactics and collaboration with diverse actors, the FNFN has been partially successful in challenging industry's social license to operate and has brought the provincial government back to the table to negotiate new decision-making arrangements on a “government to government” basis. Still, the regulation and management of a fast-paced global industry are a vast burden for a small community to bear. The FNFN's work has also shown the need for further research on how local efforts for equitable and environmentally sustainable approaches to shale gas regulation can be scaled up, institutionalised, and used to create political opportunities in other contexts.     

典型页岩气油基钻屑的组成分析及危害评价

分别从重庆某两个页岩气井场选取水平井油基钻屑(A)和直井油基钻屑(B)样品,详细分析其基本性质及组成。结果表明:油基钻屑由72.78%~81.34%的灰分、14.14%~26.21%的有机物和1.01%~4.52%的水分组成。灰分来源于钻井液中的无机添加剂和钻头破碎的岩石碎屑,主要成分为CaCO_3、BaSO_4、SiO_2和Fe_2O_3。有机物来源于调制钻井液的基础油和各类有机添加剂,主要成分为烷烃、多环芳烃、苯系物和烯烃。碱性盐、重金属和有机物是油基钻屑中的三类有害物质,且其危害依次增加,若不加以有效处置,将对当地生态环境和人类健康造成持久性破坏。     

Sorption of pyrene from water by oil shale ash and mineral particles

The aim of this work was to estimate the sorption of pyrene from water solutions on mineral substrates, e.g., alumina, silica, and oil shale ash, from the Estonian thermal plant. Results obtained from this study indicate that the sorption of pyrene on mineral oxides and oil shale ash particles from water can be described with a linear equation. The sorptive capacity per weight of oil shale ash in aqueous systems was significantly lower compared with mineral adsorbents. The distribution coefficient (K_d) for pyrene in the system with particles of oil shale ash was 10–12 times lower as than for mineral adsorbents.     

Framing Shale Gas for Policy-Making in Poland

Despite enthusiasm about new gas reserves, shale gas has not come to Poland without controversies. This study examines how shale gas has been framed as a public issue by political and business elites, experts, local communities and civil society organizations. Through a frame analysis, we found three main frames about shale gas: shale gas as a novel economic resource, as a strategic resource for energy security and as a threat. However, only the first two frames, proposed by political and business elites, have shaped the policy process. The third frame, constructed by local actors and civil society groups, has had minimal impact. We explain this exclusion drawing on the deficit model of risk communication. This approach reveals that Polish experts, and business and political actors, during their interactions with local groups, have framed proponents of the threat frame as ‘incompetent actors’ effectively excluding the threat frame from policy processes.     

Selling “Fracking”: Energy in Depth and the Marcellus Shale

The development of horizontal hydraulic fracture drilling or “fracking” has allowed for the extraction of deep, unconventional shale gas deposits in various shale seams throughout the USA. One such shale seam, the Marcellus shale, extends through New York State, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, where shale gas development has rapidly increased within the last decade. This has created a boom of economic activity surrounding the energy industry. However, this bounty comes with risks to environmental and public health and has led to divisive community polarization over the issue in the Marcellus shale region. In the face of potential environmental and social disruption, and a great deal of controversy surrounding “fracking” the oil and gas industry has had to undertake a myriad of public relations initiatives to legitimize their extraction efforts in the Marcellus shale region, and to frame the shale gas boom in a positive light to stakeholders. This article investigates one such public relations initiative, the Energy in Depth (EID) Northeast Marcellus Initiative. Through qualitative content analysis of EID's online web material, this article examines the ways in which the industry presents and frames natural gas development to the general public. Through appeals to patriotism, the use of environmental imagery, and a claimed commitment to scientific reason, the oil and gas industry uses EID to frame the shale gas extraction process in a positive light, all the while framing those who question or oppose the processes of shale gas extraction as irrational obstructionists.     

页岩气开发过程中存在的环境问题及对策

我国正处于页岩气开发的试验期,页岩气开发会带来水资源紧缺、水和土壤污染及甲烷泄漏等环境污染问题,因此,分析页岩气开发带来的环境问题并制定应对措施十分必要。文章详细分析了页岩气开发过程中可能引起的一系列问题,并结合我国页岩气开发实际情况提出了解决对策,希望能为我国页岩气的开发提供一定的参考。