When Fracking Comes to Town: Governance, Planning, and Economic Impacts of the US Shale Boom, by Sabina E. Deitrick and Ilia Murtazashvili (eds.)

The rapid expansion of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing practices from shales and coalbeds in the USA has spurred global interest in what is colloquially referred to as “fracking”, with a push to emulate North American economic successes in countries as diverse as Argentina, China, and Poland. The development and export of shale gas has shifted the USA from a net importer to net exporter of fossil fuels. Given the contemporary geopolitical ramifications of sanctions against Russia among Western nations, the role that shale gas extraction plays in global energy markets is becoming a key policy concern. Yet a move to expand domestic onshore oil and gas extraction to meet global energy needs inevitably has socio-economic and environmental consequences, leading some scholars to question whether rural, shale gas-rich communities have become ‘sacrifice zones’ (Finewood and Stroup, 2012) to support energy-intensive urban centers.