Exploring the local impacts of shale gas development Alan Krupnick - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

[Add your own pictures here] Exploring the local impacts of shale gas development Alan Krupnick Director, Center for Energy Economics and Policy

RFF Initiative: “Managing the Risks of Shale Gas Development” • RFF’s Center for Energy Economics and Policy (CEEP) • An independent, broad assessment of the key environmental risks associated with the shale gas development process.

Local negative and positive impacts Negative Externalities Lucija • Traffic (accidents, road damage) • Noise and light pollution • Visual impacts • Air pollution • Water pollution • Habitat fragmentation Positive Externalities • Those from replacing “dirtier fuels” (but unlikely to be local) Positive Economic • Lease payments and royalties • Tax revenues, fees, etc. Jim • Economic growth/jobs Hunt • Reduced utility expenses Negative Economic • The bust part of the cycle • Resource curse Hunt Jim • Local infrastructure (water, sewer, roads) Property Values: A nice (if imperfect) aggregator Lucija

Policy Context • Localities have concerns • Front line for explosion of “industrial activity” in their often rural communities • Many of the “external” impacts are obvious, but others are hidden, scary and/or hard to attribute to oil and gas activity • Grievances around fiscal treatment. New work by Newell and Raimi: localities starting from modest infrastructure and without taxing authority could be in for trouble • These problems boil over into bans and moratoria • Legal issues in power sharing, takings are far from settled: Act 13 repeal • Much debate over net economic benefits

Current projects • Property value study: all counties in PA • Truck traffic accidents study: use actual truck routes • Expert survey follow-up: Deep dive, in concert with EDF and “States First” on key impact pathways: • First dive: pits and ponds • Costs, risks, regulations, best practices • Feed into States First process • Western Oil and gas development and Agriculture: The mediating effect of water markets • Water withdrawals study: Susquehanna River Basin Commission permit requests and permit data analysis

Priorities for the Future • Net benefits to communities of SGD • Mental health effects of SGD • Frac Focus coverage • Habitat fragmentation modeling • Play out our Natural Gas Initiative

Thank you! krupnick@rff.org

Risk Matrix 9