Community resistance and the role of justice in shale gas development in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Global energy policies embracing a transition to unconventional oil and gas development are hallmarks of many developed nations. Among these, the United Kingdom has framed the development of shale gas as one means to transition from high-carbon fossil-fuel consumption to low-carbon alternatives. Yet the introduction of this industry and recent legislation associated with it have not been without controversy. Communities throughout the United Kingdom are engaged in sustained debates concerning climate change, health, the scale of extraction footprints, securitisation, and governance. Places such as Kirby Misperton, the focus of this article, are representative of many villages where questions abound about the role of justice at all stages and scales of governmental decision-making. Using a legal geographic lens, this article examines narratives among local residents who are actively resisting the arrival of unconventional gas. I consider how the relationships between and among energy transition, policy, and justice have been interpreted by communities and argue for inequity and risk to be addressed in more transparent ways. I contend that highlighting counternarratives remains essential if powerful arguments by governments and others are to be negated. Fundamentally, true justice can only prevail when all stakeholders are considered legitimate and their opinions valid.

Insights from Antipodean legal geography: Building an environmental legal geography scholarship

“…In an ALG setting, key scholars lead efforts to unpack how justice can be achieved by linking people and place to the laws that impact them. For example, Sherval (2021Sherval ( , 2023 examines and unpacks the reactions of residents to unconventional gas proposals through a justice and equity lens in her work, while Legg and Prior (2023) look to how residents exposed to toxic chemicals (living in proximity to contamination from per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, 'PFAS') manoeuvre their arguments through litigation processes in efforts to seek compensation, with varying success. These examples show the entanglement of human and place dynamics in unpacking how environmental law both shapes the places we live and how the places we live potentially also shape the regulatory response (using Nagle's, 2010 framing).…”

Progressive and critical legal geography scholarship

“…Scale clearly is an important device for nuanced legal geography analysis, and particularly for environmental decision‐making and Sherval (2023) draws out the importance of scalar framings in her paper about the evolution of the shale gas industry in the United Kingdom. In a deep dive analysis of community responses to shale gas development proposals in the United Kingdom focusing on the small village of Kirby Misperton in the North Yorkshire dales, Sherval reveals how concerned, active local residents have turned to protest to have their voices heard.…”

Energy and Environmental Justice in China: Literature Review and Research Agenda

“…Energy and environmental justice (EEJ) is an important area of scholarship that is concerned with the equitable access to energy and environmental resources, fair share of harms, and equitable treatment of all people by laws and policies [15][16][17]. This paper provides an overview of academic research on EEJ in the Chinese context.…”