Introducing the Politics of Oil and Gas Development

Home Rule Be Damned: Exploring Policy Conflicts between the Statehouse and City Hall

“…In four states, defiance led to state Supreme Court cases and in others it has contributed to legislative changes. It also commands media attention and has captured growing scholarly attention (see Davis 2014; Arnold, Long, and Gottlieb 2016; Fisk 2016; Fisk 2017). Two patterns are apparent.…”

“…When these state policy-making venues have failed or been seen by activists as ineffective, anti-fracking groups have turned to local ballot options to shape public policies, such as citizen supported bans/restrictions in the cities of Fort Collins and Longmont, Colorado and Denton, Texas (Fisk 2017; Fisk, Mahafza, and Park 2017).…”

“…In other instances, states have engaged in deliberate capacity building processes, such as the state–local task force in Colorado and the legislative study committee addressing severance tax issues in Ohio. When these state policy-making venues have failed or been seen by activists as ineffective, anti-fracking groups have turned to local ballot options to shape public policies, such as citizen supported bans/restrictions in the cities of Fort Collins and Longmont, Colorado and Denton, Texas (Fisk 2017; Fisk, Mahafza, and Park 2017). When these state policy-making venues have failed or been seen by activists as ineffective, anti-fracking groups have turned to local ballot options to shape public policies, such as citizen supported bans/restrictions in the cities of Fort Collins and Longmont, Colorado and Denton, Texas (Fisk 2017; Fisk, Mahafza, and Park 2017).…”

Shaping State Fracking Policies in the United States

“…There is little in the way of federal guidance or standards and analysts find little evidence of policy diffusion across states. And since state regulation of oil and gas drilling predates many of the green state laws enacted since the 1960s, there remains a structural bias to place more emphasis on the orderly development of energy resources than on environmental protection goals (Warner and Shapiro 2013; Fisk 2017). However, some states are more favorably predisposed to seek more of a balance between oil and gas production and environmental policy concerns than others based on aggregate factors, institutional politics, and resource capacity.…”

Introduction to the Symposium: Redundant, Abandoned, Idled, and Neglected Infrastructure: Problems and Solutions for the 21st Century

“…A great deal of American political philosophy is grounded in an assumption (and expectation) of personal responsibility. Many of our legal frameworks hold the owner(s) of the infrastructure accountable, but there is often little incentive for individuals (or corporations, who have the legal identity of individuals) to take responsibility, especially if the owner is not experiencing the costs of abandoned infrastructure directly (Fisk, 2017). In short, the path of least resistance is to make the problem “somebody else’s or some other ‘generation’s’ problem.” This naturally leads to conflict, which in turn must be resolved before any action can be taken.…”