Risk Management and Governance Issues in Shale Gas Development

页岩气开发的风险管理和治理问题

• 批准号: 1156274
• 负责人: Paul Stern
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: National Academy of Sciences
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-04-01 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1156274&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Risk; Management; Governance; Issues; Shale

People and their communities, as well as animals and the environment, face many potential risks from the process of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract natural gas. Risk characterization for shale gas development may fuel mistrust because it does not now follow best risk-analytic practices, which involve representing the perspectives of the range of interested and affected parties throughout the process. The nation may be headed toward a pattern of confrontation over fracking that could undermine goals for both energy production and environmental protection. Moreover, current governmental environmental protection institutions may be unequal to the tasks of managing the risks presented by fracking. The research that has been done so far on these risks is almost entirely technologically oriented, but this project will bring together researchers from a range of environmental, health, economic, social, and decision sciences to analyze the governance challenges of shale gas development. New synergies and ideas are urgently needed in the design of governance systems that can work in an era of declining capacity in government institutions. This study will draw on research on the governance of newly emerging risks and will expose ideas from that research to critiques from practitioners and stakeholders who can bring practical experience to bear.This National Research Council project involves two workshops that address (1) the characterization of the full variety of risks (social, environmental, and technological), and (2) the governance issues associated with those risks. This project will point the way to a risk-analytic approach aimed at more adequately informing public choices; suggest governance models that hold promise for meeting the challenges of environmental protection in an era of declining regulatory capacity; and direct attention of the energy policy community to the need to include fundamental social challenges (not just technological ones) in the development of policies and best practices. Papers and presentations from the workshops are publicly available; additionally, a report identifies the range of risk analysis and management questions worthy of future evaluation and research-based options for governance that could be applied to meet those risks.

人类及其社区，以及动物和环境，面临着水力压裂（压裂）开采天然气过程中的许多潜在风险。页岩气开发的风险描述可能会加剧不信任，因为它现在没有遵循最佳风险分析实践，其中涉及在整个过程中代表一系列利益相关方和受影响方的观点。美国可能会在水力压裂问题上走向对抗的模式，这可能会破坏能源生产和环境保护的目标。此外，目前的政府环境保护机构可能无法胜任管理水力压裂带来的风险的任务。到目前为止，对这些风险的研究几乎完全是以技术为导向的，但该项目将汇集来自环境，健康，经济，社会和决策科学的研究人员，以分析页岩气开发的治理挑战。在设计能够在政府机构能力下降的时代发挥作用的治理制度时，迫切需要新的协同作用和想法。本研究将借鉴新兴风险治理的研究成果，并将研究成果中的观点与实践者和利益相关者的批评相结合。国家研究理事会的项目包括两个研讨会，分别讨论（1）各种风险（社会、环境和技术）的特征，（2）与这些风险相关的治理问题。该项目将为风险分析方法指明方向，目的是更充分地为公众的选择提供信息;提出有希望在监管能力下降的时代应对环境保护挑战的治理模式;引导能源政策界注意在制定政策和最佳做法时必须考虑到基本的社会挑战（而不仅仅是技术挑战）。讲习班的论文和介绍可供公众查阅;此外，一份报告确定了值得今后评价的风险分析和管理问题的范围，以及可用于应对这些风险的基于研究的治理备选方案。