Doctoral Dissertation Research: Uneven Development and Perspectives on the Environment

通过水力压裂和水平钻井进行的页岩气勘探和开采已成为美国能源供应的主要组成部分。社会科学家已经记录了有时伴随这些做法的环境争议和当地阻力，以及呼吁更可持续和更环保的能源形式的运动。但对有利于石油开发的社区关注较少。 这是该奖项支持的研究主题，该研究将由科罗拉多大学博士生Gregorio Ortiz在人类学家Jerry K博士的监督下进行。杰克研究人员问：支持水力压裂的社区如何参与反对它的环境话语？这些社区的人们如何理解他们在环境讨论中的地位，这些概念是否因他们支持采掘业发展而受到影响？ 当地采掘业的发展是否反过来受到当地社区敏感性的影响？这项研究的结果将填补资源开采对社会和环境影响的科学认识方面的关键空白。这项研究将围绕德克萨斯州南部正在进行的鹰福特页岩开发进行。该地区是一个合适的地点，因为它有着悠久的石油开发历史和干旱等自然环境挑战。1970年代和1980年代的石油繁荣塑造了该地区的近代历史，尽管它并不总是导致基础设施的发展或生计的改善。因此，随后的资源“萧条”以复杂的方式影响了当地的生计，这使得研究当地居民为什么支持进一步的石油开发特别有趣。奥尔蒂斯将重点关注德克萨斯州南部中格兰德河政府发展理事会的社区。他将使用社会科学方法的组合，从档案研究开始;与政府和非政府的地方和国家代表的半结构化访谈，他们的工作涉及石油工业;和参与者的观察和采访石油工业工人。然后，他将继续深入民族志，参与观察，并在两个当地社区的调查。数据收集活动将包括访谈、重点小组以及当地土地和资源绘图。研究人员将强调环境问题如何影响和不影响发展政策和项目，以及自鹰福特页岩开发开始以来，对环境的看法是否发生了变化。 本研究的发现将有助于发展更完整的社会科学理论，关于发展，能源和环境判断之间的关系。调查结果也可以为制定适合社区的能源政策提供信息。

Shale gas exploration and extraction through hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, have come to comprise a major component of the American energy supply. Social scientists have documented the enivronmental controversies and local resistance that sometimes accompany these practices, as well as the movements calling for more sustainable and environemtnally benign forms of energy. But less attention has been paid to communities that favor petroleum development. That is the subject of the research supported by this award, which will be undertaken by University of Colorado doctoral student, Gregorio Ortiz, under the supervision of anthropologist, Dr. Jerry K. Jacka. The researchers ask: How do communities that support fracking engage with the environmental discourse against it? How do people in such communities understand their place within environmental discourse and are these conceptions affected by their support of extractive development? Is local extractive development, in turn, affected by the sensibilites of local communities? Findings from this research will fill critical gaps in scientific understanding of the social and environmental impacts of resource extraction.The research will be conducted around the on-going development of the Eagle Ford Shale in south Texas. The region is an appropriate site because it has a long history of petroleum development and natural environmental challenges, such as drought. The oil boom of the 1970s and 1980s shaped the area's recent history even though it did not always lead to infrastructural development nor improved livelihoods. Consequently, the subsequent resource "bust" has affected local livelihoods in complex ways, which makes the study of why local residents support further petroleum development particularly interesting. Ortiz will focus on the communities of the Middle Rio Grande Development Council of Governments in south Texas. He will use a mix of social science methods beginning with archival research; semi-structured interviews with both governmental and non-governmental local and state representatives whose work engages the petroleum industry; and participant observations and interviews with petroleum industry workers. He will then move on to in-depth ethnography, participant observation, and surveys in two local communities. Data collection activities will include interviews, focus groups, and local land and resource mapping. The researcher will highlight how environmental concerns do and do not inform development policy and projects, and if and how perspectives on the environment have changed since the development of the Eagle Ford Shale began. Findings from this study will contribute to the development of more complete social science theory about the relationship between development, energy, and environmental judgment. Findings may also inform development of community-appropriate energy policy.