Risk Management and Governance Issues in Shale Gas Development

人类和他们的社区，以及动物和环境，都面临着水力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引发不信任，因为它目前没有遵循最佳风险分析实践，而风险分析实践涉及在整个过程中代表利益相关者和受影响方的观点。这个国家可能正在走向一种对抗的模式，这种对抗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、社会和决策科学等领域的研究人员，分析页岩气开发的治理挑战。在政府机构能力下降的时代，迫切需要新的协同效应和想法来设计能够发挥作用的治理体系。本研究将借鉴有关新兴风险治理的研究，并将研究中的观点暴露给能够带来实践经验的从业人员和利益相关者的批评。这个国家研究委员会项目包括两个讲习班，它们处理(1)各种风险（社会的、环境的和技术的）的特征，以及(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道路，旨在更充分地为公众选择提供信息；在监管能力下降的时代，提出有望应对环境保护挑战的治理模式；能源政策界应直接关注在制定政策和最佳做法时纳入基本社会挑战（而不仅仅是技术挑战）的必要性。研讨会的论文和报告是公开的；此外，一份报告确定了未来值得评估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选择。

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.