Developing and Testing a Framework for Understanding Public Support of "Fracking"

Abstract

As citizens within many U.S. states have interacted with increased natural gas production through unconventional gas development (UGD), the public’s attitudes towards the practice have not been straightforward. Previous research on acceptance of energy technologies, and UGD specifically, highlight a wide range of factors that may drive public attitudes, namely sociodemographic characteristics and political ideology. Decades of research have also sought to explore the dimensionality of environmental attitudes; however, the theoretical frameworks and methods from this literature have not been employed in analyzing attitudes towards specific kinds of energy development. In this study, we conducted a survey of adult U.S. residents in six U.S. states where UGD is underway or geologically promising: three states with high and/or growing production (Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas) and three that have little or no UGD (New York, Illinois, and California). We analyze both whether respondents typically identify different components of advantages and disadvantages of UGD in their attitudes and what factors influence attitudes. Our analysis comports with prior research indicating that those who identify as White or male perceive fewer disadvantages of UGD. As expected, older respondents and those who receive royalty payments perceive more advantages of UGD, and those who identify as members of the Democratic Party perceive more disadvantages of UGD. However, the role of education in influencing attitudes remains somewhat unclear. With respect to dimensionality, we find that respondents generally do not differentiate between the various aspects of potential advantages and disadvantages of UGD.